Using reflection in C# to get properties of a nested object

Question

Given the following objects:

public class Customer {     public String Name { get; set; }     public String Address { get; set; } }  public class Invoice {     public String ID { get; set; }     public DateTime Date { get; set; }     public Customer BillTo { get; set; } } 

I'd like to use reflection to go through the Invoice to get the Name property of a Customer. Here's what I'm after, assuming this code would work:

Invoice inv = GetDesiredInvoice();  // magic method to get an invoice PropertyInfo info = inv.GetType().GetProperty("BillTo.Address"); Object val = info.GetValue(inv, null); 

Of course, this fails since "BillTo.Address" is not a valid property of the Invoice class.

So, I tried writing a method to split the string into pieces on the period, and walk the objects looking for the final value I was interested in. It works okay, but I'm not entirely comfortable with it:

public Object GetPropValue(String name, Object obj) {     foreach (String part in name.Split('.')) {         if (obj == null) { return null; }          Type type = obj.GetType();         PropertyInfo info = type.GetProperty(part);         if (info == null) { return null; }          obj = info.GetValue(obj, null);     }     return obj; } 

Any ideas on how to improve this method, or a better way to solve this problem?

EDIT after posting, I saw a few related posts... There doesn't seem to be an answer that specifically addresses this question, however. Also, I'd still like the feedback on my implementation.

Answer 1

I use following method to get the values from (nested classes) properties like

"Property"

"Address.Street"

"Address.Country.Name"

    public static object GetPropertyValue(object src, string propName)     {         if (src == null) throw new ArgumentException("Value cannot be null.", "src");         if (propName == null) throw new ArgumentException("Value cannot be null.", "propName");          if(propName.Contains("."))//complex type nested         {             var temp = propName.Split(new char[] { '.' }, 2);             return GetPropertyValue(GetPropertyValue(src, temp[0]), temp[1]);         }         else         {             var prop = src.GetType().GetProperty(propName);             return prop != null ? prop.GetValue(src, null) : null;         }     } 

Here is the Fiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/PvKRH0