Getting the name of [DataMember] in C#

Question

I have the model class like the following,

public class Station
{
    [DataMember (Name="stationName")]
    public string StationName;
    [DataMember (Name="stationId")]
    public string StationId;
}

I would like to get the Name of DataMember with Property Name, i.e If I have the property name "StationName", How can I get the stationName?

Answer 1

A slight modification to your class

[DataContract]
public class Station
{
    [DataMember(Name = "stationName")]
    public string StationName { get; set; }
    [DataMember(Name = "stationId")]
    public string StationId { get; set; }
}

and then this is how you can get it

 var properties = typeof(Station).GetProperties();
 foreach (var property in properties)
 {
    var attributes = property.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DataMemberAttribute), true);
     foreach (DataMemberAttribute dma in attributes)
     {
         Console.WriteLine(dma.Name);
      }                
  }

Answer 2

I created an extension method:

        public static string GetDataMemberName(this MyClass theClass, string thePropertyName)
    {
        var pi = typeof(MyClass).GetProperty(thePropertyName);
        if (pi == null) throw new ApplicationException($"{nameof(MyClass)}.{thePropertyName} does not exist");
        var ca = pi.GetCustomAttribute(typeof(DataMemberAttribute), true) as DataMemberAttribute;
        if (ca == null) throw new ApplicationException($"{nameof(MyClass)}.{thePropertyName} does not have DataMember Attribute"); // or return thePropertyName?
        return ca.Name;
    }

with usage

myInstance.GetDataMemberName(nameof(MyClass.MyPropertyName)))

Answer 3

You can do it simply by using the Reflection, cast that return attribute to DataMemberAttribute class and read the Name property value.

Here is a complete 3rd party example.