C# Cookbook

7.8. An Advanced Member Search Mechanism

Problem

You are searching for a member within a type using the Type class. However, complex member searches are not available through the GetMember and GetMembers methods of a Type object. The GetMember method searches for a member name only within a type limited by the set of BindingFlags used, and the GetMembers method searches for all members limited by the set of BindingFlags used. BindingFlags is an enumeration of various member types that can be searched. The BindingFlags related to this recipe are defined here:

DeclaredOnly

Include inherited members in the search.

Default

No binding flags are used.

FlattenHierarchy

Include all static members in the inheritance hierarchy in the search (do not include static members of nested types in the search).

IgnoreCase

Perform a case-insensitive search.

Instance

Include instance members in the search.

NonPublic

Include nonpublic members in the search.

Public

Include public members in the search.

Static

Include static members in the search.

You need to create more flexible and advanced searches for members that do not involve creating your own member search engine.

Solution

The FindMembers method of a Type object can be used, along with a callback, to create your own complex searches. The following method will call our custom member searching method, SearchMembers:

using System; using System.Reflection; public class SearchType { public void TestSearchMembers( ) { MemberInfo[] members = SearchMembers(this.GetType( ...