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Mastering C# for .NET Developers

Applications of Reflection

Explore how reflection enables dynamic analysis of type metadata in C#. Learn to access methods, interfaces, and non-public members at runtime. Understand how to use reflection to invoke private methods, supporting scenarios like debugging, testing, and building flexible tools within .NET applications.

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Reflection allows us to reach deep into the metadata of our applications to analyze types and their internal structures dynamically. By using the System.Reflection namespace, we can uncover everything from public method signatures to hidden private fields that are otherwise inaccessible. This capability provides the foundation for building flexible tools like object mappers, debuggers, and unit testing frameworks.

Explore a type’s methods

Reflection provides programmatic access to all type metadata. For instance, we can easily obtain the list of a type's methods by using the GetMethods() method. This method returns an array of MethodInfo objects. We can learn about the method’s return type, as well as what parameters the method accepts, using the ...

C# 14.0
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
// We first obtain type information on string
Type typeInfoOnString = typeof(string);
// The array contains MethodInfo objects, each containing information on a method of the string type
MethodInfo[] stringMethods = typeInfoOnString.GetMethods();
Console.WriteLine($"{typeInfoOnString.Name} has these methods:");
// We iterate the array and print out the information regarding each method
foreach (var methodInfo in stringMethods)
{
    ParameterInfo[] parameterInfos = methodInfo.GetParameters();
    // Format the parameters into a readable string using LINQ
    string parameters = string.Join(", ", parameterInfos.Select(p => $"{p.ParameterType.Name} {p.Name}")); 
    Console.WriteLine($"{methodInfo.Name}({parameters}) -> returns {methodInfo.ReturnType.Name}.");
}
...