C# Language Tutorial => dynamic

Example

The dynamic keyword is used with dynamically typed objects. Objects declared as dynamic forego compile-time static checks, and are instead evaluated at runtime.

using System;
using System.Dynamic;

dynamic info = new ExpandoObject();
info.Id = 123;
info.Another = 456;

Console.WriteLine(info.Another);
// 456

Console.WriteLine(info.DoesntExist);
// Throws RuntimeBinderException

The following example uses dynamic with Newtonsoft's library Json.NET, in order to easily read data from a deserialized JSON file.

try
{
    string json = @"{ x : 10, y : ""ho""}";
    dynamic deserializedJson = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(json);
    int x = deserializedJson.x;
    string y = deserializedJson.y;
    // int z = deserializedJson.z; // throws RuntimeBinderException
}
catch (RuntimeBinderException e)
{
    // This exception is thrown when a property
    // that wasn't assigned to a dynamic variable is used
}

There are some limitations associated with the dynamic keyword. One of them is the use of extension methods. The following example adds an extension method for string: SayHello.

static class StringExtensions
{
    public static string SayHello(this string s) => $"Hello {s}!";
}

The first approach will be to call it as usual (as for a string):

var person = "Person";
Console.WriteLine(person.SayHello());

dynamic manager = "Manager";
Console.WriteLine(manager.SayHello()); // RuntimeBinderException

No compilation error, but at runtime you get a RuntimeBinderException. The workaround for this will be to call the extension method via the static class:

var helloManager = StringExtensions.SayHello(manager);
Console.WriteLine(helloManager);

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