Get class DisplayName attribute value

Question

Iv'e spent the last hour trying to get the value of a DisplayName attribute that's applied to a Class.

I find it simple enough to get the attribute values from methods and properties but I'm struggling with the class.

Could anyone help me out with this relatively small issue?

Sample below:

The Class

 [DisplayName("Opportunity")]
 public class Opportunity
 {
  // Code Omitted
 }

The Variable

var classDisplayName = typeof(T).GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayNameAttribute),true).FirstOrDefault().ToString();

I have spent much time on MSDN and SO but I guess I'm missing something stupidly simple.

Either way great question for future readers too

Any help greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

using your example I got it working doing this:

 var displayName = typeof(Opportunity)
    .GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayNameAttribute), true)
    .FirstOrDefault() as DisplayNameAttribute;

if (displayName != null)
    Console.WriteLine(displayName.DisplayName);

This outputted "Opportunity".

Or for the more generic way you seem to be doing it:

public static string GetDisplayName<T>()
{
    var displayName = typeof(T)
      .GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayNameAttribute), true)
      .FirstOrDefault() as DisplayNameAttribute;

    if (displayName != null)
        return displayName.DisplayName;

     return "";
}

Usage:

string displayName = GetDisplayName<Opportunity>();

GetCustomAttributes() returns an object[], so you need to apply the specific cast first before accessing the required property values.

Answer 2

Instead of ToString you need to access the DisplayName property. You can do that by casting to DisplayNameAttribute.

var classDisplayName =
    ((DisplayNameAttribute)
    typeof(Opportunity)
       .GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayNameAttribute), true)
       .FirstOrDefault()).DisplayName;