Introduction to Reflection


Reflection is what allows code to interrogate type information and metadata at runtime. One core fact allows this to happen: In the .NET Framework, data types are objects. This means that every data typewhether it is a class you wrote or a part of the base class libraryhas methods you can invoke and properties you can examine. This allows you to do things like obtain the list of methods exposed by a class, or determine the data type of a property, or even iterate through the list of parameters to a given method. You can even do things like obtain references to resources embedded with an assembly, though assemblies will be covered in Chapter 12.

In unmanaged languages, such as unmanaged C++, memory is just a collection of bytes. If you declare an array that will consume 32 bytes of memory, C++ has absolutely no idea what is contained in that 32 bytes. In contrast, the Common Language Runtime (CLR) knows exactly what is contained in every piece of memory consumed. Not only does it know where the data starts and stops, but it knows what kind of data it is. Without having access to the source code, you can use reflection to find out the data type of something in memory, and then use additional reflection tools to interrogate that type to find out its parent classes, the interfaces it implements, the methods it exposes, the properties it contains, and even the events it hosts.

A great deal of work with reflection begins by getting a reference to the data type of a particular variable in memory. This is done by calling the GetType() method on an object. This returns an object of type System.Type. As mentioned earlier, all data types within the .NET Framework are objects. Table 11.1 lists some of the most commonly used methods and properties of the Type class, the core of the Reflection functionality in the .NET Framework.

Table 11.1. System.Type Members

Property/Method

Description

Assembly

Gets the assembly in which the type has been defined.

Attributes

Gets the list of attributes associated with the type.

BaseType

The parent type of the current type. Not to be confused with an ancestor, this is the type of the immediate parent only. You can recursively use this property to travel up the inheritance tree.

FullName

Gets the full name of the type, including namespace. Not associated with the assembly name.

GenericParameterPosition

Gets the position of the type parameter in the type parameter list when the type is a generic type.

IsAbstract

Indicates whether the type is an abstract type that must be overridden.

IsArray

Indicates whether the type is an array.

IsByRef

Indicates whether the type is a reference type.

IsGenericParameter

Indicates whether the type is a generic parameter.

IsGenericType

Indicates whether the type accepts generic parameters.

IsInterface

Indicates whether the type is an interface.

Module

Gets the module (compiled output file) in which the type is defined. Only varies from assembly when the assembly is a multifile assembly.

Namespace

Gets the containing namespace of the type.

GetArrayRank()

Gets the number of dimensions in the array if the type is an array type.

GetConstructor()

Gets a specific constructor for the type.

GetConstructors()

Gets all of the constructors for the type.

GetEvents()

Gets a list of events within the type.

GetMember/GetMembers()

Gets member information on the type.

GetMethod/GetMethods()

Gets method information on the type.

GetProperty()/

Gets information on properties on the type.

GetProperties()

 

MakeGenericType()

Supplies the given array of type parameters to an open generic type and binds it to the parameters, creating a constructed generic type.


Using this table of properties and methods, you can now start to work with specific aspects of reflection, as discussed throughout the remainder of this chapter.



Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Unleashed
Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Unleashed
ISBN: 0672327767
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 298

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