I would like to get the name of a property, for example:
Dim _foo As String
Public Property Foo as String
Get
Return _foo
End Get
Private Set(ByVal value as String)
_foo = value
End Set
Sub Main()
Console.Write(Foo.Name)'Outputs "Foo"
End Sub
Any ideas how?
Do you mean a property, or do you mean a field?
There are clever lambda techniques for getting the names of properties - here's a C# example:
String GetPropertyName<TValue>(Expression<Func<TValue>> propertyId)
{
return ((MemberExpression)propertyId.Body).Member.Name;
}
Call it like this:
GetPropertyName(() => MyProperty)
and it will return "MyProperty"
Not sure if that's what you're after or not.
If you are using C# 6.0 (not released when this question was asked) you can use the following:
nameof(PropertyName)
This is evaluated at compile time and is converted to a string, the nice thing about using nameof() is that you don't have to manually change a string when you refactor.
(nameof works on more than Properties, CallerMemberName is more restrictive)
If you are still stuck in pre c# 6.0 then you can use CallerMemberNameAttribute (it requires .net 4.5)
private static string Get([System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallerMemberName] string name = "")
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(name))
throw new ArgumentNullException("name");
return name;
}
public static PropertyInfo GetPropInfo<T>(this T @object
, Expression<Action<T>> propSelector)
{
MemberExpression exp= propSelector.Body as MemberExpression;
return exp.Member as PropertyInfo;
}
Then use it like this:
string str = ....
string propertyName = str.GetPropInfo(a => a.Length).Name;
Note that the above method is an extension and should be written in a static class and used by including the namespace
via reflection. Use GetType() method of the type, then look into GetProperties() method and PropertyInfo class. (if you'd like to retrieve the string "propertyName" (for a field called propertyName - use xxx.GetType().GetFields()[0].Name if it's first field in the class.
"Name"?