Generated Type Provider and Code Generation

Let me finish the generated type provider and 100% move to Hadoop and big data area. In previous postings (1 and 2), I explained how to write generated type provider. The following are some pain points you might encountered when write your own generated type provider.

I currently use generated type provider to generate DLL. This is my main task. Currently, there is not so many document about generated type provider available, especially how to use F# expression to generate the binary. C# provides TypeBuilder to create types in a dynamic DLL, I use F# type provider to generate DLL.

• Define a field and property.

let providedField = ProvidedField("field", typeof<System.Func<string, string, string, obj, obj>>)  
let providedProperty = ProvidedProperty("Property", typeof<System.Func<string, string, string, obj, obj>>,   
                   GetterCode = (fun [this] -> Expr.FieldGet (this, providedField)),  
                   SetterCode = (fun [this;v] -> Expr.FieldSet(this, providedField, v)))  

• ProvidedField is a FieldInfo, ProvidedMethod is a MethodInfo, so everywhere you can to pass in standard .NET type, you can use Provided types.
• Constructor code needs to be modified to generate the your code. This piece needs to be added to the .fs. For generated code type provider, you do not have to return < @@ baseClass() @@ > in your constructor code.  

         let expr = pcinfo.GetInvokeCodeInternal true parameters  
         let locals = Dictionary<Quotations.Var,LocalBuilder>()  
         let expectedState = ExpectedStackState.Empty  
         emitExpr (ilg, locals, parameterVars) expectedState expr  

• NewDelegate has not been implemented yet. The bypass is to create a module with your function and pass in the function as expression.
• Specify the generated DLL path, where cfg is TypeProviderConfig. You can use any reflector tool to check the generated DLL.

 let providedAssembly = new ProvidedAssembly(System.IO.Path.Combine(cfg.ResolutionFolder, "GeneratedBinary.dll"))  

• Get C# lambda from F# function. 

Very simple, you can just do System.Fun(fun i -> i+1). 

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