C# array of properties

Question

I have several get properties that I would like to be able to loop through like an array of functions. I would like to be able to do something like this

public int prop1 { get; }
public string prop2 { get; }
public int[] prop3 { get; }
public int prop4 { get; }
public string prop5 { get; }
public string prop6 { get; }

Func<var> myProperties = { prop1, prop2, prop3, prop4, prop5, prop6 };

ArrayList myList = new ArrayList();
foreach( var p in myProperties)
{
    myList.Add(p);
}

This code is very broken, but I think it conveys the idea of what I would like to be able to do. Anyone know how I can achieve this?

Answer 1

You could use reflection to access the properties within your type:

class MyType
{
    public int prop1 { get; }
    public string prop2 { get; }
    public int[] prop3 { get; }
    public int prop4 { get; }
    public string prop5 { get; }
    public string prop6 { get; }

    public List<string> GetAllPropertyValues()
    {
        List<string> values = new List<string>();
        foreach (var pi in typeof(MyType).GetProperties())
        {
            values.Add(pi.GetValue(this, null).ToString());
        }

        return values;
    }
}

Note that reflection is slow and you shouldn’t use this if there is a better way. For example when you know that there are only 6 properties, just go through them individually.

Answer 2

If you know all the properties you want to loop through already, then you can try this

List<Reflection.PropertyInfo> myProperties = new List()<object>
{
    typeof(SomeType).GetProperty("prop1"), 
    typeof(SomeType).GetProperty("prop2"), 
    typeof(SomeType).GetProperty("prop3"), 
    typeof(SomeType).GetProperty("prop4"), 
    typeof(SomeType).GetProperty("prop5"), 
    typeof(SomeType).GetProperty("prop6")
};

foreach(var p in myProperties)
{
    var value = p.GetValue(someObject, new object[0]);
    myList.Add(p);
}

If not, you can use something like this:

var myProperties = 
    from pi in someObject.GetType().GetProperties()
    select new 
    {
        pi.Name, 
        Value = pi.GetValue(object, new object[0])
    };

foreach(var p in myProperties)
{
    myList.Add(p.Value);
}