Delphi: invoke constructor raises EInvalidCast - delphi

Question

I'm trying to invoke a constructor obtained via RTTI (running D2010 version 14.0.3593.25826). The constructor takes a mixture of strings and objects as its arguments, all of which should be initialized to '' or nil. (Disclaimer: I know that the desired constructor will be the one with maximum number of parameters, hence the weird-looking, although suboptimal design.)
The code goes as follows:
program sb_rtti;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
uses RTTI, TypInfo, SysUtils;
type
TMyClass = class (TObject)
FField1: string;
FObject1: TObject;
public
constructor Create(Field1: string = ''; Object1: TObject = nil);
end;
constructor TMyClass.Create(Field1: string; Object1: TObject);
begin
FField1 := Field1;
FObject1 := Object1;
end;
function GetConstructor(rType: TRttiType) : TRttiMethod;
var
MaxParams: integer;
Methods: TArray<TRttiMethod>;
Method: TRttiMethod;
Params: TArray<TRttiParameter>;
begin
Methods := rType.GetMethods('Create');
MaxParams := 0;
for Method in Methods do begin
Params := Method.GetParameters();
if (Length(Params) > MaxParams) then begin
Result := Method;
MaxParams := Length(Params);
end;
end;
end;
procedure InitializeParam(Param: TRttiParameter; ActualParam: TValue);
begin
if (Param.ParamType.TypeKind = TTypeKind.tkClass) then begin
ActualParam := TValue.From<TObject>(nil);
end else if (Param.ParamType.TypeKind = TTypeKind.tkString) then begin
ActualParam := TValue.From<string>('');
end else if (Param.ParamType.TypeKind = TTypeKind.tkUString) then begin
ActualParam := TValue.From<UnicodeString>('');
end else begin
// Other types goes here
end;
end;
var
Context: TRttiContext;
Constr: TRttiMethod;
Params: TArray<TRttiParameter>;
ResultValue: TValue;
rType: TRttiType;
ActualParams: array of TValue;
i: integer;
CurrentParam: TRttiParameter;
begin
Context := TRttiContext.Create();
rType := Context.GetType(TypeInfo(TMyClass));
Constr := GetConstructor(rType);
try
if (Constr <> nil) then begin
Params := Constr.GetParameters();
SetLength(ActualParams, Length(Params));
for i := 0 to Length(Params) - 1 do begin
CurrentParam := Params[i] as TRttiParameter;
InitializeParam(CurrentParam, ActualParams[i]);
end;
ResultValue := Constr.Invoke(rType.AsInstance.MetaclassType, ActualParams);
end;
except
on E : Exception do
WriteLn(E.ToString);
end;
ReadLn;
end.
Now, when the line ResultValue := Constr.Invoke(rType.AsInstance.MetaclassType, ActualParams); is executed, an EInvalidCast exception is raised. The exception may be traced to the TValue.Cast-method at line 1336.
However, the meat of the problem seems to be found at the previous point in the call stack, more precisely at line 4093 in rtti.pas (argList[currArg] := Args[i].Cast(parList[i].ParamType.Handle);).
My bet is that I'm using rtti in ways I'm not supposed to, yet, I can't find the "right way" described anywhere. Can anybody please point me in the right direction? Thanks!

Answer 1

You have a problem in the InitializeParam procedure because in the assignment of the ActualParam parameter, you are setting the value of the local copy of that parameter – remember that TValue (the type of ActualParam) is a record. So to fix the problem you must pass the ActualParam as a var parameter.
procedure InitializeParam(Param: TRttiParameter; var ActualParam: TValue);

Answer 2

It just occurred to me to hard-code the argument initialization by replacing
for i := 0 to Length(Params) - 1 do begin
CurrentParam := Params[i] as TRttiParameter;
InitializeParam(CurrentParam, ActualParams[i]);
end;
with
ActualParams[0] := TValue.From<string>('');
ActualParams[1] := TValue.From<TObject>(nil);
which solves the problem.