c# Get Calling Method Without Stack Trace

Question

I've noticed that .NET 4.5 has a new attribute called [CallerMemberNameAttribute] which, when attached to a parameter of a method, will supply the string name of the method that called that method (if that makes sense).

However, unfortunately (because I want to make something with XNA) I'm only targeting .NET 4.0.

I want to be able to do something like:

void MethodA() {
   MethodB();
}

void MethodB() {
   string callingMethodName = (...?);
   Console.WriteLine(callingMethodName);
}

Where my output would be MethodA.

I know I could do this via stack trace, but that's a) Unreliable and b) Sloooow... So I'm wondering if there's any other way to glean that information, however that may be...

I was hoping for any ideas or knowledge that anyone might have on the issue. Thanks in advance :)

Answer 1

If you use Visual Studio 2012 to compile this, you can write your own CallerMemberNameAttribute and use it the same way you would with .NET 4.5 even if you still target .NET 4.0 or 3.5. The compiler will still perform the substitution at compile time, even targeting an older framework version.

Just adding the following to your project will do the trick:

namespace System.Runtime.CompilerServices
{
    public sealed class CallerMemberNameAttribute : Attribute { }
}