Passing method or function as parameter

Question

I have an abstract class for Lua scripts. I have a method called Expose which registers a function to the Lua environment.

protected void Expose(string name, MethodBase method)
    {
        this.Lua.RegisterFunction(name, this, method);
    }

However, I want to make it easier by passing the method name only instead of doing this:

this.Expose(this.GetType().GetMethod(...

I want to be able to do this:

this.Expose(LuaExports.DoSomething);

So instead of passing MethodBase, what do I need to pass? Note that the passed argument can be a method that returns something, or a method that does not return anything.

Answer 1

You need two methods, one that accepts an Action delegate (a void method) and the other that accepts a Func<T> delegate (a method that returns T ):

protected void Expose(string name, Action method)
{
    method(); // will invoke the method passed.
}

protected void Expose(string name, Func<SomeType> method)
{
    var value = method(); // will invoke the method passed and assign return result to value.
}

Answer 2

The closest I believe you can come is passing a delegate type directly:

protected void Expose(string name, Delegate delegate)
{
    this.Lua.RegisterFunction(name, d.Target, d.Method);
}

Although to be able to call this, you would have to create a delegate type, which can be done with a cast:

 this.Expose("Name", (Action)LuaExports.DoSomething);

If you don't want to have the cast you would have to write a whole bunch of genetic overloads of Expose that each take a separate delegate type:

Expose(string name, Action action);
Expose<T1>(string name, Action<T1> action);
Expose<T1, T2>(string name, Action<T1, T2> action);
...
Expose<T1, TResult>>(string name, Func<T1, TResult> action);
Expose<T1, T2, TResult>>(string name, Action<T1, T2, TResult>> action);
...