Hi,

In the guidance package template there is a sample recipe 'generaterepeatingclass' where a T3 action is used like this:
...
  <Action Name="GenerateClass" Type="Microsoft.Practices.RecipeFramework.Library.Actions.T3Action, Microsoft.Practices.RecipeFramework.Library"
                Template="T3\Repeating.cs.t3"
                InputValue="Configured Static Value">
          <!-- InputValue shows a configured attribute in T3 that doesn't need a property on the class -->
...

Could you explain to me why the 'InputValue' does not need a property on the class?

Moreover, how would you set the 'InputValue' in code like:
T3Action action = new T3Action();
action.Template = ...;
I tried to use action.Configure(...) but for to be succesfull a property on the class seems to be necessary?

thanks in advance,

Katrien

T3 is a very special kind of action, in that it extends the type information by implementing ICustomTypeDescriptor. Without getting in too much detail, that means that it fakes additional properties, including all the inputs you pass with <Input> elements for the T3 template to use.

When GAT sets the inputs, it does so by using the TypeDescriptor.GetProperties method on the action. So if you want to set the value, you would do the following:

T3Action action = new T3Action();
TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(action)["InputValue"].SetValue(action, "MyValue");

T3 is a very special kind of action, in that it extends the type information by implementing ICustomTypeDescriptor. Without getting in too much detail, that means that it fakes additional properties, including all the inputs you pass with <Input> elements for the T3 template to use.

When GAT sets the inputs, it does so by using the TypeDescriptor.GetProperties method on the action. So if you want to set the value, you would do the following:

T3Action action = new T3Action();
TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(action)["InputValue"].SetValue(action, "MyValue");

This is very good info.  Unfortunately, when executing this code I get a 'NotSupportedException' because the dictionary is 'read-only'.  Could you give me some advice on this?

Hi Katrien, were you able to solve this problem ? I am getting the same exception when I try to set the value and would like to know if there is any other way to solve this.