Using Powershell to access Static class within a Static Class

Question

I have a class as like the following

namespace Foo.Bar
{
    public static class ParentClass
    {
      public const string myValue = "Can get this value";

      public static class ChildClass
      {
        public const string myChildValue = "I want to get this value";
      }
     }
}

I can get the myValue using powershell,

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Foo.Bar")
$parentValue = [Foo.Bar.ParentClass]::myValue

But I'm unable to get the class within the class myChildValue. Can anyone help?

Thought it might be something like below but $childValue is always empty.

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Foo.Bar")
$childValue = [Foo.Bar.ParentClass.ChildClass]::myChildValue

Joey · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-24 08:12:47Z

12

It's [Foo.Bar.ParentClass+ChildClass]. On PowerShell 3 tab completion will tell you as much. Furthermore, you can use Add-Type to compile and load the code directly:

C:\Users\Joey> add-type 'namespace Foo.Bar
>> {
>>     public static class ParentClass
>>     {
>>       public const string myValue = "Can get this value";
>>
>>       public static class ChildClass
>>       {
>>         public const string myChildValue = "I want to get this value";
>>       }
>>      }
>> }'
>>
C:\Users\Joey> [Foo.Bar.ParentClass+ChildClass]::myChildValue
I want to get this value

No need to fiddle around with the C# compiler and [Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName.

answered Sep 24, 2013 at 8:12

Joey

357k88 gold badges705 silver badges700 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

Cann0nF0dder Over a year ago

Thank you, extra point for answering so fast. Is that what + sign for, so if there was a class underneath the childclass would it me Foo.Bar.ParentClass+ChildClass+ChildOfChildClass

Joey Over a year ago

The + is from the internal name of that class. C# uses the dot . for both namespace separation and nested classes, but .NET itself doesn't. This becomes apparent when you use reflection to access types as well (and is also documented there, about halfway down the page). So yes, nested nested classes would use + as well.

Cann0nF0dder Over a year ago

Thank you for the link and explanation.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Using Powershell to access Static class within a Static Class

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related