Creating dynamic type from TypeBuilder with a base class and additional fields generates an exception

Question

I am trying to create a dynamic type based on an existing type that contains only public fields. The new dynamic type must also inherit from a different base type which only has a fully implemented method.

I create the TypeBuilder specifying the base type then I add the public fields to it and finally I call CreateType(). The resulting error message is:

"Could not load type 'InternalType' from assembly 'MyDynamicAssembly, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' because field 'first' was not given an explicit offset."

To me this implies that the CreateType method is looking for the public field "first" in the base class which is a problem because it is not there. Why does it think the added field should be in the base class? Or, am I misunderstanding the exception?

Here is the code:

public class sourceClass
{
    public Int32 first = 1;
    public Int32 second = 2;
    public Int32 third = 3;
}

public static class MyConvert
{
    public static object ToDynamic(object sourceObject, out Type outType)
    {
        // get the public fields from the source object
        FieldInfo[] sourceFields = sourceObject.GetType().GetFields();

        // get a dynamic TypeBuilder and inherit from the base type
        AssemblyName assemblyName
            = new AssemblyName("MyDynamicAssembly");
        AssemblyBuilder assemblyBuilder
            = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly(
                assemblyName,
                AssemblyBuilderAccess.Run);
        ModuleBuilder moduleBuilder
            = assemblyBuilder.DefineDynamicModule("MyDynamicModule");
        TypeBuilder typeBuilder
            = moduleBuilder.DefineType(
                "InternalType",
                TypeAttributes.Public
                | TypeAttributes.Class
                | TypeAttributes.AutoClass
                | TypeAttributes.AnsiClass
                | TypeAttributes.ExplicitLayout,
                typeof(SomeOtherNamespace.MyBase));

        // add public fields to match the source object
        foreach (FieldInfo sourceField in sourceFields)
        {
            FieldBuilder fieldBuilder
                = typeBuilder.DefineField(
                    sourceField.Name,
                    sourceField.FieldType,
                    FieldAttributes.Public);
        }

        // THIS IS WHERE THE EXCEPTION OCCURS
        // create the dynamic class
        Type dynamicType = typeBuilder.CreateType();

        // create an instance of the class
        object destObject = Activator.CreateInstance(dynamicType);

        // copy the values of the public fields of the
        // source object to the dynamic object
        foreach (FieldInfo sourceField in sourceFields)
        {
            FieldInfo destField
                = destObject.GetType().GetField(sourceField.Name);
            destField.SetValue(
                destObject,
                sourceField.GetValue(sourceField));
        }

        // give the new class to the caller for casting purposes
        outType = dynamicType;

        // return the new object
        return destObject;
    }

Answer 1

Ok, I figured this out moments after posting. I was indeed misreading the error message. It, in fact, had nothing to do with the inherited base class.

When I created the type I specified the attribute "TypeAttributes.ExplicitLayout" which is required. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that I had to also add an offset to each field when I created them. The exception message was completely accurate. Sorry for the false alarm. The corrected code follows:

public class SourceClass
{
    public Int32 first = 1;
    public Int32 second = 2;
    public Int32 third = 3;
}

public static class MyConvert
{
    public static object ToDynamic(object sourceObject, out Type outType)
    {
        Int32 fieldOffset = 0;

        // get the public fields from the source object
        FieldInfo[] sourceFields = sourceObject.GetType().GetFields();

        // get a dynamic TypeBuilder and inherit from the base type
        AssemblyName assemblyName
            = new AssemblyName("MyDynamicAssembly");
        AssemblyBuilder assemblyBuilder
            = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly(
                assemblyName,
                AssemblyBuilderAccess.Run);
        ModuleBuilder moduleBuilder
            = assemblyBuilder.DefineDynamicModule("MyDynamicModule");
        TypeBuilder typeBuilder
            = moduleBuilder.DefineType(
                "InternalType",
                TypeAttributes.Public
                | TypeAttributes.Class
                | TypeAttributes.AutoClass
                | TypeAttributes.AnsiClass
                | TypeAttributes.ExplicitLayout,
                typeof(SomeOtherNamespace.MyBase));

        // add public fields to match the source object
        foreach (FieldInfo sourceField in sourceFields)
        {
            FieldBuilder fieldBuilder
                = typeBuilder.DefineField(
                    sourceField.Name,
                    sourceField.FieldType,
                    FieldAttributes.Public);
            fieldBuilder.SetOffset(fieldOffset);
            fieldOffset++;
        }

        // create the dynamic class
        Type dynamicType = typeBuilder.CreateType();

        // create an instance of the class
        object destObject = Activator.CreateInstance(dynamicType);

        // copy the values of the public fields of the
        // source object to the dynamic object
        foreach (FieldInfo sourceField in sourceFields)
        {
            FieldInfo destField
                = destObject.GetType().GetField(sourceField.Name);
            destField.SetValue(
                destObject,
                sourceField.GetValue(sourceObject));
        }

        // give the new class to the caller for casting purposes
        outType = dynamicType;

        // return the new object
        return destObject;
    }

EDIT: The above code won't work. The field index is in bytes so when you increment the offset you should do so by the size of the field like so:

fieldOffset += sizeof(Int32);