Getting a property reference using reflection

Question

var a = new obj();
var property = a.GetType().GetProperty("DB").GetValue(a,null) as testObject;

does this mean that the variable property hold a reference to the the same object that i got in object a , or a new testObject was made that holds the same values?

if this means creating a new object, then how can i get the reference to that property/backing field using reflection?

Answer 1

property now holds a referece to whatever is in a's DB property.

I'm not sure though what happens when you call GetValue() on a property that has a value type, I suppose you get a reference to a boxed copy of the original value, as explained in Boxing and Unboxing (C# Programming Guide):

Boxing a value type [to object in GetValue()'s case] allocates an object instance on the heap and copies the value into the new object.

Answer 2

Variable property holds reference to same value stored in property DB.

GetValue(a,null) return type is object so with as operator you are simple type casting it.