Testing objects for changes
- by David Veeneman
I have an application that needs to determine whether a user has made a change to an object. So, when the object is first loaded, I create a deep copy (using serialization/deserialization) and save the copy to a separate field. The copy becomes myCurrentObject, and the original becomes myOriginalObject.
Now I need to test myCurrentObject for changes, which I plan to do by comparing it to myOriginalObject. All I need is a boolean result indicating whether any changes have been made. I have already determined that a simple hashcode comparison won't work. GetHashCode() generates different results for the two objects, even when there are no changes.
I am getting ready to write a method to do a property-by-property comparison, but before I do, I thought I would check to see if there is a simpler and more reusable way to test myCurrentObject to see if it has changed from myOriginalObject.
Any suggestions? Thanks for your help.