Syntax for referring to variable name by string?

Question

If I have member called: this.m_yodasShoeSize and I want to refer to it by a string with something like: this.'m_' + 'yodasShoeSize' is there syntax in c# for that. I expected something like: this['m_' + 'yodasShoeSize'] or this[eval('m_' + 'yodasShoeSize'); Also, is there a name for what I'm talking about here? I'm not sure what to call this feature, although I have seen it available in a few languages.

wadeontheweb · Answer

Thanks spoimala, Sorry, I wasn't real clear. I have a class I'm storing all data in that might either be saved to a cookie or the instance itself might be stored in session state. The class is designed to handle both situations since right now I have to use cookies, but in a few months our servers may be using sticky sessions through our BigIP or a state server so I can store session state server side. There are a lot of members. I decided to write a function for updating string members rather than duplicating a lot of code in every member accessor. That's the background. For the specifics: I wanted to create a class method that accetped two strings: a member name and a string value to store in that member. So I think I have found the way to get the member, and now I just want to set (store) a string in it. For example, if I wasn't trying to use reflection I would do: this.myMemberVarStr = "some string I want to store in that there member"; I wasn't sure how to do this same thing with reflection if I only have the name of the member as a string and the string value I want to put in it. Thanks for any help.

sacresp · Answer

The technology you are asking is called ' variable variables' and is not supported in C#. But you have correctly found the .NET equivalent. What do you mean by storing? Maybe this : System.Reflection.MemberInfo[] mi = t.GetMember(memberName); ?

wadeontheweb · Answer

I relized later the name of for what I was looking for is Reflection and that once I get the type of the object a member is in, I can get the member with .GetMember(). string theMemberName = "yodasShoeSize"; Type type this.GetType(); type.GetMember(theMemberName); what is the syntax for storing the result of type.GetMember(theMemberName); or is there no way to do this and I just need to get the member over and over again as I refer to it with type.GetMember(theMemberName); Thanks for any help

Syntax for referring to variable name by string?

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Answers (3)