GordoSoft.ChunkyMonkey 1.0.12

ChunkyMonkey - C# Object Chunking Source Generator

Introduction

ChunkyMonkey is a C# Code Generator to split a class containing list, array, collection or dictionary properties into chunks. It also provides the ability to merge the chunks back into a single instance.

Use Cases

• You need to break down a large API request into smaller pieces - to avoid breaking the maximum request body size limit of your web server.

Walkthrough

Imagine you have a class like this:

public class CreateUserRequest
{
	public string Username { get; set; }
	public DateTime DateOfBirth { get; set; }	
	public List<int> FavouriteNumbers { get; set; }
	public string[] FavouriteFilms { get; set; }
	public Dictionary<string, string> Attributes { get; set; }
}

If the user has a lot of favourite numbers, films and attributes, you may want to split the class into chunks to reduce the size of the request object. [Yes, this is a very contrived example!]

ChunkyMonkey generates two methods within partial classes, where T is the name of the class.

public IEnumerable<T> Chunk(int chunkSize)

public T MergeChunks(IEnumerable<T> chunks)

IEnumerable<T> Chunk(int chunkSize)

• Only partial classes can be chunked. This is because the code generates generates a partial class containing the methods above for each chunked class.
• Non-chunkable properties are repeated for each chunked instance.
• If a collection (list, collection, array or dictionary) property's values are exhausted, subsequent chunks will contain an empty collection for the property value.

Example of usage

Input to Chunks(3)

Output for Chunks(3)

Chunk #1

Chunk #2

Chunk #3

T MergeChunks(IEnumerable<T> chunks)

This generated method merges a set of chunks back into a single instance.

Limitations

• Does not currrently support nullable types.

Future Enhancements

• Handle nullable reference types
• Check Chunk method doesn't already exist
• Check MergeChunks method doesn't already exist
• Check that the existing class is a partial class (if not, compiler warning)
• Check that the existing class is not sealed (if so, compiler warning)
• Check that the existing class is not static (if so, compiler warning)
• Check that the existing class is not abstract (if so, compiler warning)
• Check that the existing class is not a struct (if so, compiler warning)
• Check that the existing class has a parameterless constructor (if not, compiler warning)
• Check that the existing class has a public constructor (if not, compiler warning)