List of available classes

Question

Hello I am looking for a way in C# to be able to programatically build a list of available classes in the applcation that I can search the list and execute a desired class method based on a passed parameter to the program. I could do this by building a case statement with all available classes but would like it to be more dynamic. Thanks

Administrator · Answer

Thanks for the reply. Actually someone else was able to assist with this and it is now working. This was their answer. MyClass has this method: public void Show(string msg) { MessageBox.Show(msg); } I can call this method from reflection like this: // create an instance of MyClass Type type1 = Type.GetType(WindowsApplication4.MyClass); Object obj = type1.InvokeMember( BindingFlags.CreateInstance null null null); // execute Show method Type type2 = obj.GetType(); type2.InvokeMember(Show BindingFlags.InvokeMethod null obj new object[] {test string for Show});

Administrator · Answer

Would it be feasable to have your classes implement an interface that defines the .execute method? That way you'd always know that it is available. Sorry if my terminology is wrong - I'm a Java developer just starting my C# adventures... :-)

Administrator · Answer

Correct. However I would like to set it up to not have to know the classes in advance. Thanks again anyway. Any help is appreciated.

Administrator · Answer

The only thing I can think of is the eval function that is in JavaScript you could try searching for a C# method that is similar to that. I did a quick search and it looks like there is no eval function since C# is not a scripting language. BTW in your if statement you already know that your Class is called MyTestFunction so you could do the following: if (s == MyTestFunction) { MyTestFunction.Execute(); } but that is assuming you know all of the class names beforehand. HTH Duddits

Administrator · Answer

This worked on returning the class names. I now have populated a string collection with the names of the matching classes. In doing so I ran into another question. If I have several classes that have a method of .execute() how can I create an instance and call the .execute of the function that matches the function name that is in the string collection? for example: public class MyTestFuction { public void Execute() { // do something here } } string s = MyTestFuction if (s == MyTestFuction) { //How to use the string name to //call the matching class s ????? .Execute(); }

Administrator · Answer

okay bear with me here... but I think what you are looking for is in the System.Reflection class and then you can cycle through using a foreach(item newItem in myItems.Items) ...Console.Writeln(myItem.Items.Tostring()); By using the reflections class you should be able to instantiate the class as an object 0(and explicitly casting it by using the object type). Other wise if your objects are all related and you are using inheritance you can create a variable of your base/parent type and then instantiate it using your defined child types.