Enum GetCustomAttributes does not show anything

Question

in this simple class I try to overwrite ToString() to show all custom Attributes.

public class TryMe
{
    public TryMe(int id, List<String> tests)
    {
        ID = id;
        Tests = tests;
    }
    public int ID { get; set; }
    public List<String> Tests { get; set; }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        string me = "";
        var attributes = this.GetType().GetCustomAttributes();

        foreach (var attribute in attributes)
        {
            me = me + attribute.ToString() + ",";
        }
        return me;
    }
}

It doesn't show any value or error.

Aren't ID and Tests custom attributes ? Is there any easy enumeration if the class becomes bigger ?

You should also use a StringBuilder in this case, much more efficient! — jason.kaisersmith, Aug 19 '21 at 08:20
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2762531/c-sharp-reflection-and-getting-properties — TheGeneral, Aug 19 '21 at 08:22
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/737151/how-to-get-the-list-of-properties-of-a-class — TheGeneral, Aug 19 '21 at 08:23
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.type.getproperties?view=net-5.0 — TheGeneral, Aug 19 '21 at 08:24
[Attribute](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/concepts/attributes/) are not [Properties](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/classes-and-structs/properties) — DavidG, Aug 19 '21 at 08:25
@jason.kaisersmith In this case a `StringBuilder` would almost certainly be slower. It tends to be better when you make 6 or 7 string operations so you'd need more properties. Of course, YMMV and testing is always useful when perf is a concern. — DavidG, Aug 19 '21 at 08:27
`return string.Join(", ", this.GetType().GetProperties().Select(x => x.Name))` — TheGeneral, Aug 19 '21 at 08:29
@DavidG OK, I thought the benefit was already with 3 or 4, good to know, thanks. But remember that most people post a simplified Class on SO not the full one, and with the starting empty string and comma then you already have 5 strings being concatenated in this case. — jason.kaisersmith, Aug 19 '21 at 08:46
@TheGeneral Thanks for your replies. Actually the solution from fso did work quite well as I had to iterate over the properties to get name and value back. Where I am struggle is getting the value of the tests list back as string. — user3732793, Aug 19 '21 at 11:48
@jason.kaisersmith could not answer to repliers at once on Stackoverflow. — user3732793, Aug 19 '21 at 11:49

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 19 '21 at 08:20

5

Attributes are things like there:

[MyCoolAttribute]
public MyCoolMethod()

What you're looking for are Properties

this.GetType().GetProperties()

answered Aug 19 '21 at 08:20

faso

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Enum GetCustomAttributes does not show anything

1 Answers1