Facility to run code explicitly implemented in a base class that does not follow CA1033

Question

Sometimes when working with components created by a library vendor such as DevExpress you want to extend the components. Good vendors will leave plenty of virtual methods for you to put to use, but once in a while you need to hook into an interface method call in a class that implements the method explicitly. You can simply reimplement the interface method, but nine times out of ten you will still want to call the base implementation as though it were virtual. As a matter of fact, it should have been virtual (CA1033).

In the meantime, the base implementation is private and you need to use reflection. This class mitigates some of that nuisance so that you don't have to hand-roll reflection code. It hands you an object implementing the interface that calls directly into the private base implementation methods.

An example is worth a thousand explanations:

interface IExampleInterface
{
 string InterfaceMethod();
}
class BaseClass : IExampleInterface
{
 // The authors of BaseClass did not follow CA1033: Interface methods should be callable by child types
 string IExampleInterface.InterfaceMethod()
 {
 return "BaseClass implementation";
 }
}
sealed class CustomizedClass : BaseClass, IExampleInterface
{
 // We have no choice but to override by implementing the method.
 string IExampleInterface.InterfaceMethod()
 {
 // Now in order to access the base explicit implementation, we use the class below:
 return LanguageUtils.ExplicitImplementation<BaseClass, IExampleInterface>(this).InterfaceMethod() + " has been customized.";
 }
}

Surprisingly, there's barely any code:

public static class LanguageUtils
{
 public static TInterface ExplicitImplementation<TBase, TInterface>(TBase @this)
 where TBase : TInterface
 where TInterface : class
 {
 return (TInterface)new ExplicitImplementationProxy(typeof(TBase), @this).GetTransparentProxy();
 }
 private sealed class ExplicitImplementationProxy : RealProxy, IRemotingTypeInfo
 {
 private readonly Type baseType;
 private readonly object instance;
 public ExplicitImplementationProxy(Type baseType, object instance) : base(typeof(MarshalByRefObject))
 {
 this.baseType = baseType;
 this.instance = instance;
 }
 public bool CanCastTo(Type fromType, object o)
 {
 return fromType.IsInterface && fromType.IsAssignableFrom(baseType);
 }
 public string TypeName { get; set; }
 public override IMessage Invoke(IMessage msg)
 {
 var methodCall = msg as IMethodCallMessage;
 if (methodCall == null) throw new NotSupportedException();
 var map = baseType.GetInterfaceMap(methodCall.MethodBase.DeclaringType);
 var args = new object[methodCall.Args.Length];
 Array.Copy(methodCall.Args, args, args.Length);
 return new ReturnMessage(map.TargetMethods[Array.IndexOf(map.InterfaceMethods, (MethodInfo)methodCall.MethodBase)].Invoke(instance, args), args, args.Length, methodCall.LogicalCallContext, methodCall);
 }
 }
}

• Malachi: there isn't a whole lot of explanation here, except for the title???? could you add something more to this?
• radarbob: string IExampleInterface.InterfaceMethod() Is this BaseClass implementation not private? private == not inherited.
• jnm2: @Lyle'sMug is that better?
• jnm2: @radarbob That is correct. That's what this is about- calling private interface implementations when the base class is violating CA1033.
• Malachi: That is much better

Answer 1

This is a pretty tidy implementation, not much to say here. A couple very minors:

1. This is a bit hard to read:

   return new ReturnMessage(.Invoke(instance, args), args, args.Length, methodCall.LogicalCallContext, methodCall);
   

   I'd split it up:

   var targetMethod = map.TargetMethods[Array.IndexOf(map.InterfaceMethods, (MethodInfo)methodCall.MethodBase)];
   return new ReturnMessage(targetMethod.Invoke(instance, args), args, args.Length, methodCall.LogicalCallContext, methodCall);
   

2. Clone the argument array instead of explicitly copying it:

   var args = (object[])methodCall.Args.Clone();
   

   Expresses the semantics on a more compact way.

3. For me this seems to be some sort of method forwarding so I'd possibly consider renaming it and maybe turning it into an extension method (I like the syntactic sugar of it). Something along these lines:

   public static TInterface ForwardToBase<TBase, TInterface>(this TBase @this)
    where TBase : TInterface
    where TInterface : class
   {
    return (TInterface)new ExplicitImplementationProxy(typeof(TBase), @this).GetTransparentProxy();
   }
   

   In which case the call would then read as:

   this.ForwardToBase<BaseClass, IExampleInterface>().InterfaceMethod()
   

• jnm2: I like it. I considered #3, but I didn't want it showing up in intellisense for every object since it shouldn't be a common necessity. Maye if we had an interface constraint.