How can I count number of data members at runtime in C#?

Question

I have following class in c#. How can I count number of data members at runtime?

public static class ABC
{
  public static string A;
  public static string B;
  public static string C;
}

Bascially, I have to iterate each datamember and pass it to some function one by one which will assign it some value. Thats why I need this.

If its not possible, is there any other way to do same

_"Bascially, I have to iterate each datamember and pass it to some function one by one. Thats why I need this."_ - are you sure you need reflection and not interfaces? And by "datamember" you mean "[field](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173118.aspx)"? — CodeCaster, May 02 '13 at 11:04
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/737151/how-to-get-the-list-of-properties-of-class — Mohammad Arshad Alam, May 02 '13 at 11:07

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered May 02 '13 at 11:04

5

Here is one way to do it:

var count = typeof(ABC).GetFields().Length;

Each element of the array returned by GetFields corresponds to a data member. In addition to getting the count, you can further examine each field - get its name, check its type and so on. You can also use FieldInfo objects to get and/or set fields of your target class.

Demo on ideone.

answered May 02 '13 at 11:04

Sergey Kalinichenko

714,442
84
1,110
1,523

1

+1 for `.Length` and demo. – oleksii May 02 '13 at 11:09

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered May 02 '13 at 11:02

Something along these lines shall work. Generally you would use reflection for this kind of things.

int count = typeof(ABC)
    .GetFields()
    .Count();

@dasblinkenlight solution is better, because .Length performs in O(1), whereas my .Count() is O(N).

Side note, I am sure you know this, public fields are evil, consider using properties instead.

How can I count number of data members at runtime in C#?

2 Answers2