Access the value of a variable, from a different script, using a string (C#)

Question

I have a class called Receive and it has a variable public int head=10 for example.

In a different class called Mover I will set a new variable private Receive bodypart.

What I want is to take the value of head of bodypart without using the command bodypart.head but with a string, for example:

string bodyname = "head";

int v = bodypart.bodyname;

I know that this doesn't work and why but I can't find another method. I already look for reflection but didn't get it and don't know if it's the best for this.

Fabjan · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-15 11:44:07Z

It looks like you can use Dictionary collection here. For example:

// Receieve class inherits Dictionary. Use <string, object> if your values  
// are of different types
class Receive : Dictionary<string, int> {}

class Mover
{
   private Receive bodypart;

   // assigns value to bodypart field
   public Mover(Receive bodypart)
   {
       this.bodypart = bodypart;
   }

   // get element from bodypart using string argument
   public int GetBodyPart(string name)
   {
       return bodypart[name];
   }
}

class Class26
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // instantiates collection
        Receive res = new Receive();

        // add elements to collection
        res.Add("head", 5);

        // instantiates Mover and pass collection as parameter to ctor
        Mover m = new Mover(res);

        // takes one element from collection
        int a = m.GetBodyPart("head");

        Console.WriteLine(a);
    }
}

Output : 5

Dmitrii Bychenko · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-15 13:28:53Z

1

Reflection will do the task in a way like that

  using System.Reflection;
  ...

  public class Receive {
    // using public fields is a bad practice
    // let "Head" be a property 
    public int Head {
      get;
      set;
    }

    // Bad practice
    public int UglyHead = 5;

    public Receive() {
      Head = 10;
    }
  }

  ...

  string bodyname = "Head";

  Receive bodyPart = new Receive();
  // Property reading 
  int v = (int) (bodyPart.GetType().GetProperty(bodyname).GetValue(bodyPart));
  // Field reading
  int v2 = (int) (bodyPart.GetType().GetField("UglyHead").GetValue(bodyPart));

edited Jul 15, 2015 at 13:28

answered Jul 15, 2015 at 11:35

Dmitrii Bychenko

188k20 gold badges178 silver badges231 bronze badges

2 Comments

Fatias7 Over a year ago

Hmm what I really would like was public fields but either way (public or property) I am getting this type of error - "A field initializer cannot reference the nonstatic field, method, or property `Mover.bodypart' " what may be the cause?

Dmitrii Bychenko Over a year ago

@Fatias7: seems that you assignes a field by value from other field/property etc. e.g. private int SomeField = SomeOtherField; msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/5724t6za(v=vs.90).aspx

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Access the value of a variable, from a different script, using a string (C#)

2 Answers 2

Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related