A deep struct-like Equals() for .NET classes?

Question

Given two objected that do not contain reference loops within them, do you know a method that tests their equality in a "generic" way (through reflection)?

I basically want the same semantics as struct equivalence, only on classes.

Answer 1

I think there is no such method available in the framework, but it's fairly easily written. Perhaps not the shortest implementation but is seems to do the job:

private bool AreEqual(object x, object y)
{
    // if both are null, they are equal
    if (x == null && y == null)
    {
        return true;
    }
    // if one of them are null, they are not equal
    else if (x == null || y == null)
    {
        return false;
    }

    // if they are of different types, they can't be compared
    if (x.GetType() != y.GetType())
    {
        throw new InvalidOperationException("x and y must be of the same type");
    }

    Type type = x.GetType();
    PropertyInfo[] properties = type.GetProperties();

    for (int i = 0; i < properties.Length; i++)
    {
        // compare only properties that requires no parameters
        if (properties[i].GetGetMethod().GetParameters().Length == 0)
        {
            object xValue = properties[i].GetValue(x, null);
            object yValue = properties[i].GetValue(y, null);

            if (properties[i].PropertyType.IsValueType && !xValue.Equals(yValue))
            {
                return false;
            }
            else if (!properties[i].PropertyType.IsValueType)
            {
                if (!AreEqual(xValue, yValue))
                {
                    return false;
                }
            } // if
        } // if
    } // for

    return true;

}

Answer 2

If you want to do this without doing reflection on each call, you might want to consider building a DynamicMethod on first invocation and using that instead. (I had a link to the article that does this, but I lost it - sorry - try Googling if interested.)

Answer 3

BTW

 Expression.Lambda<Func<T,T,bool>> Compile()

can be used as a dynamic method builder.

still have to use reflection while building the Expresison

Answer 4

Here's an updated version from Fredrik Mörk's answer that takes into account Nullable and recursive references:

public static bool AreEqual<T>(T x, T y) =>
    AreEqual(x, y, new HashSet<object>(new IdentityEqualityComparer<object>()));

private static bool AreEqual(object x, object y, ISet<object> visited)
{
    // if both are null, they are equal
    if (x == null && y == null) return true;

    // if one of them are null, they are not equal
    if (x == null || y == null) return false;

    // if they are of different types, they can't be compared
    if (x.GetType() != y.GetType())
    {
        throw new InvalidOperationException("x and y must be of the same type");
    }

    // check for recursive references
    if (visited.Contains(x)) return true;
    if (visited.Contains(y)) return true;
    visited.Add(x);
    visited.Add(y);

    var type = x.GetType();
    var properties = type.GetProperties();

    foreach (var property in properties)
    {
        // compare only properties that requires no parameters
        if (property.GetGetMethod().GetParameters().Length == 0)
        {
            object xValue = property.GetValue(x, null);
            object yValue = property.GetValue(y, null);

            if (property.PropertyType.IsValueType)
            {
                // check for Nullable
                if (xValue == null && yValue == null) continue;
                if (xValue == null || yValue == null) return false;
                if (!xValue.Equals(yValue)) return false;
            }

            if (!property.PropertyType.IsValueType)
            {
                if (!AreEqual(xValue, yValue, visited)) return false;
            }
        }
    }

    return true;
}

private class IdentityEqualityComparer<T> : IEqualityComparer<T> where T : class
{
    public int GetHashCode(T value) => RuntimeHelpers.GetHashCode(value);
    public bool Equals(T left, T right) => left == right;
}