Get value of a specific object property in C# without knowing the class behind

Question

I have an object (.NET) of type "object". I don't know the "real type (class)" behind it during runtime , but I know, that the object has a property "string name". How can I retrive the value of "name"? Is this possible?

something like this:

object item = AnyFunction(....); string value = item.name; 

Answer 1

Use reflection

System.Reflection.PropertyInfo pi = item.GetType().GetProperty("name"); String name = (String)(pi.GetValue(item, null)); 

Answer 2

You can do it using dynamic instead of object:

dynamic item = AnyFunction(....); string value = item.name; 

Note that the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) has built-in caching mechanisms, so subsequent calls are very fast.