C# Reflection - Object does not match target type

Question

I'm trying to use the propertyInfo.SetValue() method to set an object property value with reflection, and I'm getting the exception "Object does not match target type". It doesn't really make sense (at least to me!) as I'm just trying to set a simple string property on an object with a string replacement value. Here's a code snippet - this is contained within a recursive function so there's a bunch more code, but this is the guts:

PropertyInfo fieldPropertyInfo = businessObject.GetType().GetProperties().FirstOrDefault(f => f.Name.ToLower() == piecesLeft[0].ToLower()); businessObject = fieldPropertyInfo.GetValue(businessObject, null);  fieldPropertyInfo.SetValue(businessObject, replacementValue, null); 

I've verified that businessObject" andreplacementValue` are both the same type by doing this comparison, which returned true:

businessObject.GetType() == replacementValue.GetType() 

Answer 1

You're trying to set the value of the propertyinfo value's. Because you're overwriting the businessObject

PropertyInfo fieldPropertyInfo = businessObject.GetType().GetProperties()                                  .FirstOrDefault(f => f.Name.ToLower() == piecesLeft[0].ToLower());  // The result should be stored into another variable here: businessObject = fieldPropertyInfo.GetValue(businessObject, null);  fieldPropertyInfo.SetValue(businessObject, replacementValue, null); 

It should be something like:

PropertyInfo fieldPropertyInfo = businessObject.GetType().GetProperties()                                  .FirstOrDefault(f => f.Name.ToLower() == piecesLeft[0].ToLower());  // also you should check if the propertyInfo is assigned, because the  // given property looks like a variable. if(fieldPropertyInfo == null)     throw new Exception(string.Format("Property {0} not found", f.Name.ToLower()));  // you are overwriting the original businessObject var businessObjectPropValue = fieldPropertyInfo.GetValue(businessObject, null);  fieldPropertyInfo.SetValue(businessObject, replacementValue, null);