LeXtudio.UnoPropertyGrid.Generator

LeXtudio.UnoPropertyGrid.Generator

A Roslyn source generator companion to LeXtudio.UnoPropertyGrid that emits AOT-safe property descriptors at compile time, so the property grid can display and edit object properties without using runtime reflection for property discovery.

When to use this package

The default UnoPropertyGrid relies on TypeDescriptor and PropertyInfo to discover properties at runtime. That works well on desktop, but it is incompatible with:

• .NET NativeAOT publication
• Blazor WebAssembly trimmed builds
• Any target where unreferenced metadata is removed by the trimmer

Install this generator alongside the main library whenever you target one of those scenarios.

Installation

dotnet add package LeXtudio.UnoPropertyGrid
dotnet add package LeXtudio.UnoPropertyGrid.Generator

The generator package ships its DLL under analyzers/dotnet/cs/ and is automatically wired up by NuGet as a Roslyn analyser — no additional MSBuild configuration is required.

Usage

1. Annotate your assembly

Place one attribute per type you want the generator to cover:

[assembly: UnoPropertyGrid.GeneratePropertyGridDescriptors(typeof(MyApp.DeviceSettings))]
[assembly: UnoPropertyGrid.GeneratePropertyGridDescriptors(typeof(MyApp.NetworkConfig))]

2. Wire up the generated provider

Replace the default reflection-based provider before setting SelectedObject:

// GeneratedPropertyGridDescriptors is emitted by the source generator.
PropertyGrid.PropertyProvider = GeneratedPropertyGridDescriptors.CreateProvider();
PropertyGrid.SelectedObject = myDeviceSettings;

3. Done

The generator reads [Category], [Description], [DisplayName], [ReadOnly], and [Browsable] attributes at compile time and folds them into typed lambda accessors. [Browsable(false)] properties are excluded. Read-only properties (no public setter, or [ReadOnly(true)]) are marked accordingly.

What the generator emits

For each annotated type the generator produces a static registration method. For example, given:

public sealed class DeviceSettings
{
    [Category("Network")]
    [Description("The hostname or IP address.")]
    public string HostName { get; set; } = "localhost";

    [Category("Network")]
    public int Port { get; set; } = 443;

    [ReadOnly(true)]
    public string SerialNumber { get; } = "SN-001";

    [Browsable(false)]
    public string InternalToken { get; set; } = "";
}

the generator emits (simplified):

internal static class GeneratedPropertyGridDescriptors
{
    public static LambdaPropertyProvider CreateProvider() { ... }

    static void RegisterDeviceSettings(LambdaPropertyProvider provider)
    {
        provider.Register<DeviceSettings>(static c => [
            new PropertyGridPropertyDescriptor(c, "HostName", typeof(string),
                getter: static c2 => ((DeviceSettings)c2).HostName,
                setter: static (c2, v) => ((DeviceSettings)c2).HostName = (string)v!,
                category: "Network", description: "The hostname or IP address."),
            new PropertyGridPropertyDescriptor(c, "Port", typeof(int),
                getter: static c2 => (object?)((DeviceSettings)c2).Port,
                setter: static (c2, v) => ((DeviceSettings)c2).Port = (int)v!,
                category: "Network"),
            new PropertyGridPropertyDescriptor(c, "SerialNumber", typeof(string),
                getter: static c2 => ((DeviceSettings)c2).SerialNumber,
                isReadOnly: true),
            // InternalToken omitted — [Browsable(false)]
        ]);
    }
}

No reflection is involved in property discovery: the trimmer can see and preserve every accessor.

Viewing the generated code

Set <EmitCompilerGeneratedFiles>true</EmitCompilerGeneratedFiles> in your project file to write the generated source to obj/<config>/<tfm>/generated/UnoPropertyGrid.Generator/.

Supported platforms

Same as LeXtudio.UnoPropertyGrid: Windows 11, macOS, Ubuntu LTS (Uno Skia Desktop). WinUI 3 is included but not the primary focus.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Copyright

Copyright (c) 2026 LeXtudio, Inc. All rights reserved.