Accessing C# property name or attributes

Question

I would like to automatically generate SQL statements from a class instance. The method should look like Update(object[] Properties, object PrimaryKeyProperty). The method is part of an instance (class, base method - generic for any child). Array of properties is an array of class properties, that will be used in update statement. Property names are equal to table field names.

The problem is that I can't get property names.

Is there any option to get a property name inside class instance? sample:

public class MyClass {
public int iMyProperty { get; set; }
public string cMyProperty2 { get; set; }
{

main() {
 MyClass _main = new MyClass();

_main.iMyProperty.*PropertyName* // should return string "iMyProperty"

{

I am aware of PropertyInfo, but I don't know hot to get the ID of a property from GetProperties() array.

Any suggestion?

Answer 1

Just wrote an implementation of this for a presentation on lambdas for our usergroup last Tuesday.

• You can do

  MembersOf<Animal>.GetName(x => x.Status)

• Or

  var a = new Animal() a.MemberName(x => x.Status)

the code:

public static class MembersOf<T> {
    public static string GetName<R>(Expression<Func<T,R>> expr) {
        var node = expr.Body as MemberExpression;
        if (object.ReferenceEquals(null, node)) 
            throw new InvalidOperationException("Expression must be of member access");
        return node.Member.Name;
    }
}

• Link to the presentation and code samples.
• Also in SVN (more likely to be updated): http://gim-projects.googlecode.com/svn/presentations/CantDanceTheLambda

Answer 2

I found a perfect solution in This Post

public static string GetPropertyName<T>(Expression<Func<T>> propertyExpression)
{
   return (propertyExpression.Body as MemberExpression).Member.Name;
}

And then for the usage :

var propertyName = GetPropertyName(
() => myObject.AProperty); // returns "AProperty"

Works like a charm