Getting the instance that called the method in C#

Question

I am looking for an algorithm that can get the object that called the method, within that method.

For instance:

public class Class1 {

    public void Method () {
        //the question
        object a = ...;//the object that called the method (in this case object1)
        //other instructions
    }

}

public class Class2 {

    public Class2 () {
        Class1 myClass1 = new Class1();
        myClass1.Method();
    }

    public static void Main () {
        Class2 object1 = new Class2();
        //...
    }

}

Is there any way to do this?

Answer 1

Here's an example of how to do this...

...
using System.Diagnostics;
...

public class MyClass
{
/*...*/
    //default level of two, will be 2 levels up from the GetCaller function.
    private static string GetCaller(int level = 2)
    {
        var m = new StackTrace().GetFrame(level).GetMethod();

        // .Name is the name only, .FullName includes the namespace
        var className = m.DeclaringType.FullName;

        //the method/function name you are looking for.
        var methodName = m.Name;

        //returns a composite of the namespace, class and method name.
        return className + "->" + methodName;
    }

    public void DoSomething() {
        //get the name of the class/method that called me.
        var whoCalledMe = GetCaller();
        //...
    }
/*...*/
}

Posting this, because it took me a while to find what I was looking for myself. I'm using it in some static logger methods...

Answer 2

You could get to the current stack trace in code and walk up one step. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.stacktrace.aspx

But as was commented below, this will get you the method and class calling you, but not the instance (if there is one, could be a static of course).