How to create deferenced copy of an object in C#?

Question

I have an entity which I use to bind data with my WPF UI. I am in need to create a copy of the entity which I can use as "original" data anytime.

Just creating new object and then assigning also carries references with it. So I need a copy of entity object which has no effect of changes made on its source.

My entity contains value type properties and several nested collections.

Any suggestions/ideas on this?

possible duplicate of [How do you do a deep copy an object in .Net (C# specifically)?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/129389/how-do-you-do-a-deep-copy-an-object-in-net-c-specifically) — jason, Feb 18 '11 at 12:43
Yes, it is kind of a dupe but all the answers here seem to use BinaryFomatter. — Henk Holterman, Feb 18 '11 at 12:50
The term is "Deep Copy" and better state "without using serialization". — Henk Holterman, Feb 18 '11 at 12:51

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 18 '11 at 12:49

You will need to write your own copy constructor: This shows how. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173116(v=vs.80).aspx

For collections you will need to copy the data too. Array.Copy will work for most for A hashtable you might need to go as far as Serialization or simply recreating the table.

SomeType[] myArray = new SomeType[orig.Count+ 1];

orig.CopyTo(myArray, 0);

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

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Deep Copy in C#

edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

Community

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answered Feb 18 '11 at 12:59

Novice

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 18 '11 at 13:13

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Use this project: https://github.com/havard/copyable

answered Feb 18 '11 at 13:13

jgauffin

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How to create deferenced copy of an object in C#?

3 Answers3