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PropertyInfo Class

Microsoft Silverlight will reach end of support after October 2021. Learn more.

Discovers the attributes of a property and provides access to property metadata.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
  System.Reflection.MemberInfo
    System.Reflection.PropertyInfo
      System.Reflection.Emit.PropertyBuilder

Namespace:  System.Reflection
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _
<ClassInterfaceAttribute(ClassInterfaceType.None)> _
Public MustInherit Class PropertyInfo _
    Inherits MemberInfo
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
[ClassInterfaceAttribute(ClassInterfaceType.None)]
public abstract class PropertyInfo : MemberInfo

The PropertyInfo type exposes the following members.

Constructors

  Name Description
Protected method PropertyInfo Initializes a new instance of the PropertyInfo class.

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Properties

  Name Description
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 Attributes Gets the attributes for this property.
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 CanRead Gets a value indicating whether the property can be read.
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 CanWrite Gets a value indicating whether the property can be written to.
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 DeclaringType Gets the class that declares this member. (Inherited from MemberInfo.)
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 IsSpecialName Gets a value indicating whether the name of the property is recognized as a special name by compilers.
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 MemberType Gets a MemberTypes value indicating that this member is a property. (Overrides MemberInfo.MemberType.)
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 MetadataToken Gets a value that identifies a metadata element. (Inherited from MemberInfo.)
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 Module Gets the module in which the type that declares the member represented by the current MemberInfo is defined. (Inherited from MemberInfo.)
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 Name Gets the name of the current member. (Inherited from MemberInfo.)
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 PropertyType Gets the type of this property.
Public propertySupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 ReflectedType Gets the class object that was used to obtain this instance of MemberInfo. (Inherited from MemberInfo.)

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Methods

  Name Description
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 Equals(Object) Determines whether the specified Object is equal to the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
Protected methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 Finalize Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before the Object is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetAccessors() Returns an array whose elements reflect the public get, set, and other accessors of the property reflected by the current instance.
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetAccessors(Boolean) Returns an array whose elements reflect the public (and, if specified, non-public) get, set, and other accessors of the property reflected by the current instance.
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetConstantValue Returns a literal value associated with the property by a compiler.
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetCustomAttributes(Boolean) When overridden in a derived class, returns an array of all custom attributes applied to this member. (Inherited from MemberInfo.)
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetCustomAttributes(Type, Boolean) When overridden in a derived class, returns an array of custom attributes applied to this member and identified by Type. (Inherited from MemberInfo.)
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetGetMethod() Returns the public get accessor for this property.
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetGetMethod(Boolean) When overridden in a derived class, returns the public or non-public get accessor for this property.
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetHashCode Serves as a hash function for a particular type. (Inherited from Object.)
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetIndexParameters When overridden in a derived class, returns an array of all the index parameters for the property.
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetRawConstantValue Returns a literal value associated with the property by a compiler.
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetSetMethod() Returns the public set accessor for this property.
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetSetMethod(Boolean) When overridden in a derived class, returns the set accessor for this property.
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetType Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetValue(Object, array<Object[]) Returns the value of the property with optional index values for indexed properties.
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 GetValue(Object, BindingFlags, Binder, array<Object[], CultureInfo) When overridden in a derived class, returns the value of a property that has the specified binding, index, and CultureInfo.
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 IsDefined When overridden in a derived class, indicates whether one or more attributes of the specified type or of its derived types is applied to this member. (Inherited from MemberInfo.)
Protected methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 MemberwiseClone Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 SetValue(Object, Object, array<Object[]) Sets the value of the property on the specified object, with optional index values for indexed properties.
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 SetValue(Object, Object, BindingFlags, Binder, array<Object[], CultureInfo) When overridden in a derived class, sets the property value for the given object to the given value, subject to the specified binding constraints, binder, and culture.
Public methodSupported by Silverlight for Windows PhoneSupported by Xbox 360 ToString Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.)

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Remarks

Properties are logically the same as fields. A property is a named aspect of an object's state whose value is typically accessible through get and set accessors. Properties may be read-only, in which case there is no set accessor.

NoteNote:

To determine whether a property is static, you must obtain the MethodInfo for the get or set accessor, by calling the GetGetMethod or the GetSetMethod method, and examine its IsStatic property.

Calling ICustomAttributeProvider.GetCustomAttributes on PropertyInfo and specifying true for the inherit parameter does not walk the type hierarchy. Use the Attribute.GetCustomAttributes(MemberInfo, Boolean) method to list inherited custom attributes. Note, however, that even this method finds only those inherited custom attributes that derive from System.Attribute.

Examples

The following example shows how to get the value of an indexed property using reflection. The String.Chars property is the default property (the indexer in C#) of the String class.

Imports System.Reflection

Class Example

   Public Shared Sub Demo(ByVal outputBlock As System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock) 

        Dim test As String = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"

        ' To retrieve the value of the indexed Chars property  using 
        ' reflection, create an instance of PropertyInfo for Chars.
        '
        Dim pinfo As PropertyInfo = GetType(String).GetProperty("Chars")

        ' To retrieve an instance property, the GetValue method
        ' requires the object whose property is being accessed, and 
        ' an array of objects representing the index values. 

        ' Get the seventh character in the test string. 
        ' Note that the index is zero-based.
        Dim indexArgs() As Object = { 6 }
        Dim value As Object = pinfo.GetValue(test, indexArgs)
        outputBlock.Text &= _
            String.Format("The character at index 6 is ""{0}""." & vbLf, value)

        ' Show the complete string, one character at a time.
        For i As Integer = 0 To test.Length - 1
            outputBlock.Text &= pinfo.GetValue(test, New Object() { i })
        Next
        outputBlock.Text &= vbLf

    End Sub

End Class

' This example produces the following output:
'
'The character at index 6 is "g".
'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
using System;
using System.Reflection;

class Example
{
    public static void Demo(System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock outputBlock)
    {
        string test = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";

        // To retrieve the value of the indexed Chars property  using 
        // reflection, create an instance of PropertyInfo for Chars.
        //
        PropertyInfo pinfo = typeof(string).GetProperty("Chars");

        // To retrieve an instance property, the GetValue method
        // requires the object whose property is being accessed, and 
        // an array of objects representing the index values. 

        // Get the seventh character in the test string. 
        // Note that the index is zero-based.
        object[] indexArgs = { 6 };
        object value = pinfo.GetValue(test, indexArgs);
        outputBlock.Text += 
            String.Format("The character at index 6 is \"{0}\".\n", value);

        // Show the complete string, one character at a time.
        for(int i = 0; i < test.Length; i++)
        {
            outputBlock.Text += pinfo.GetValue(test, new object[] { i });
        }
        outputBlock.Text += "\n";
    }
}

/* This example produces the following output:

The character at index 6 is "g".
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
 */

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.

Thread Safety

This type is thread safe.

See Also

Reference