Factories

(Async)Mappers and matchers also allow creating factories for mapping two given types, instead of mapping them directly.

This allows greater performance for multiple subsequent maps for the same types, like in collections.

To create a factory you can use the following extension methods:

• IMapper
  • MapNewFactory
  • MapMergeFactory
• IAsyncMapper
  • MapAsyncNewFactory
  • MapAsyncMergeFactory
• IMatcher
  • MatchFactory

Each method accepts the types to map as parameters and returns a factory.

Optionally you can specify other MappingOptions, and they are applied to the factory before creation, so that all the invocations share the same (Async)Mapping/Matching Context. This is important for async maps, since the returned factory has a single CancellationToken tied to it, so it should be used for a short period of time (eg: a single web request or scope).

To use the factory you just have to invoke the method Invoke() and pass the related object(s) to it.

Factories will need to be disposed at the end by invoking the Dispose() method (or wrapping them in an using block since they implement IDisposable).

// Retrieve a factory and wrap it in an using block to dispose it correctly after use
using(var factory = mapper.MapNewFactory<Product, ProductDto>()){
    // Perform single maps
    var myProductDto = factory.Invoke(myProduct);

    // Map collections
    var myProductsDto = myProducts.Select(p => factory.Invoke(p)).ToArray();

    ...
}

Factories are thread-safe as all the other classes, so they can be used even in parallel if needed.