C# Reflection

 In C#, reflection is a process to get metadata of a type at runtime. The System.Reflection namespace contains required classes for reflection such as:

• Type
• MemberInfo
• ConstructorInfo
• MethodInfo
• FieldInfo
• PropertyInfo
• TypeInfo
• EventInfo
• Module
• Assembly
• AssemblyName
• Pointer etc.

The System.Reflection.Emit namespace contains classes to emit metadata.

C# Type class

C# Type class represents type declarations for class types, interface types, enumeration types, array types, value types etc. It is found in System namespace. It inherits System.Reflection.MemberInfo class.

C# Type Properties

A list of important properties of Type class are given below:

Property                                             Description

Assembly                         Gets the Assembly for this type.

AssemblyQualifiedName Gets the Assembly qualified name for this type.

Attributes                         Gets the Attributes associated with the type.

BaseType                         Gets the base or parent type.

FullName                         Gets the fully qualified name of the type.

IsAbstract                         is used to check if the type is Abstract.

IsArray                                 is used to check if the type is Array.

IsClass                                 is used to check if the type is Class.

IsEnum                                 is used to check if the type is Enum.

IsInterface                         is used to check if the type is Interface.

IsNested                                 is used to check if the type is Nested.

IsPrimitive                         is used to check if the type is Primitive.

IsPointer                         is used to check if the type is Pointer.

IsNotPublic                         is used to check if the type is not Public.

IsPublic                                 is used to check if the type is Public.

IsSealed                                 is used to check if the type is Sealed.

IsSerializable                         is used to check if the type is Serializable.

MemberType                         is used to check if the type is Member type of Nested type.

Module                                 Gets the module of the type.

Name                                 Gets the name of the type.

Namespace                         Gets the namespace of the type.

C# Type Methods

A list of important methods of Type class are given below:

Method Description

GetConstructors()                         Returns all the public constructors for the Type.

GetConstructors(BindingFlags) Returns all the constructors for the Type with specified BindingFlags.                    

GetFields()                                 Returns all the public fields for the Type.

GetFields(BindingFlags)    Returns all the public constructors for the Type with specified BindingFlags.

GetMembers()                         Returns all the public members for the Type.

GetMembers(BindingFlags) Returns all the members for the Type with specified BindingFlags.

GetMethods()                         Returns all the public methods for the Type.

GetMethods(BindingFlags)         Returns all the methods for the Type with specified BindingFlags.

GetProperties()                         Returns all the public properties for the Type.

GetProperties(BindingFlags) Returns all the properties for the Type with specified BindingFlags.

GetType()                                 Gets the current Type.

GetType(String)                         Gets the Type for the given name.

C# Reflection Example: Get Type

using System;  

public class ReflectionExample  

{  

   public static void Main()  

    {  

        int a = 10;  

        Type type = a.GetType();  

        Console.WriteLine(type);  

    }  

}  

Output:

System.Int32