Unity - SendMessage but for variable instead of function/method

Question

Is there an equivalent of SendMessage to change variable instead of calling a function?

For example, I have:

for(int i = 0; i < elements.Count; i++)
{
    elements[i].SendMessage("selectMe", SendMessageOptions.DontRequireReceiver);
}

and then:

public bool selected;
public void selectMe()
{
    selected = true;
}

so selectMe() is just an additional step. Is there a way to switch value of "selected" itself? GetComponent<>() is out of question since variable is located in different scripts, depending on object - all of which do indeed contain variable "selected".

In short, I'm looking for something like:

elements[i].SendMessage("selected", true, SendMessageOptions.DontRequireReceiver);

(above doesn't return an error but it doesn't work either)

Answer 1

It's not a pretty one-liner, but there is a way if you use C# Reflection:

foreach (Component comp in GetComponents<Component>()) {
    // Modify this to filter out candidate variables
    const BindingFlags flags = BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Public | 
                               BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Static;

    // Change any 'selected' field that is also a bool
    FieldInfo field = comp.GetType().GetField("selected", flags);
    if (field != null  && field.FieldType == typeof(bool)) {
        field.SetValue(true);
    }

    // Change any 'selected' property that is also a bool
    PropertyInfo property = comp.GetType().GetProperty("selected", flags);
    if (property != null && property.PropertyType == typeof(bool)) {
        property.SetValue(true);
    }
}