Using TypeDescriptor.GetProperties with Static Class

So, since I've not used TypeDescriptor, I'm only guessing ... but I suspect that it won't tell you anything about static properties. From the little I've read, it exists to support people doing COM work, where parts of a type may not be statically known (i.e. known at compile time). But I'm not even sure of that.

The useful thing to infer from 'maybe its related to COM' is that a COM object / interface is related to an instance, so public static anything ... is unlikely to work because the static keyword makes the property (or field) a property of the type, not of an instance of the type.

- Do you need to use TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(), or can you use Type.GetProperties()? If you can use the latter you can discover both instance and static field and/or properties (and methods).

- If you must use TypeDescriptor, can you change your Settings object to be a singleton instance of a type, instead of being the static properties of a static type?

Re VB.Net vs C# - I doubt the problem is due to some intrinsice difference between VB.Net and C#, but to understanding how TypeDesriptor works ... I expect that when you get it to work you'' be able to make it work in both languages. Have you come across Reflector[^]? It's a free reverse-engineering tool for .Net assemblies. It generates C# (or VB.Net) source from the IL in an assembly. So, when you get your problem working in one language, you can use Reflector to see how it would look in the other.

In your 'What I should be doing' section, note that you're declaring myprop as an instance field, but MyProp as a static property: this will not compile because the static property doesn't know anything about the internals of instances.

I've just re-read you opening description of the problem. Is there a reason why you are not able to use .Net's built-in settings infrastructure?

That infrastructure already reads from / writes to an XML file of settings, and for simple cases you can let the designer in Visual Studio generate the file and Settings class for you (go to the assembly's Properties page, pick the Settings tab and declare the names and types of the settings.

If you need to get more sophisticated than name/value pairs, then perhaps the classes in the System.Configuration namespace will still meet your need.

Toli,

I don't know what you a talking about ???? ! I'm just trying to find an answer. So far TypeDescriptor.GetProperties has not returned any of the static properties I built. So I'm using Reflection instead. I'll post the code next week.

By the way I don't give a $h*t about reputation points.

Michael Z.

I ended up using Reflection and did create the properties with get/set,otherwise they are seen as fields.

Thanks for all your help,
Michael Z.

public static Hashtable GetProperties()
        {
            Hashtable htReturn = new Hashtable ();
            try
            {
                Type mytype = Type.GetType("DL_Batch_Import.Settings");
                PropertyInfo[] Props = mytype.GetProperties();
                String sName = String.Empty;
                String sValue = String.Empty;
               //Check Properties
                foreach (PropertyInfo Prop in Props)
                {
                    
                    try
                    {
                        sName = Prop.Name;
                        
                        switch (Prop.PropertyType.Namespace)
                        {
                            case "System.Collections.Generic":
                                foreach (String  Val in (List<String>)Prop.GetValue(null, null))
                                {sValue = sValue + Val + ":";}
                                htReturn.Add(sName, (List<String>)Prop.GetValue(null, null));
                                break;
                            default :
                                sValue = (String)Prop.GetValue(null,null); 
                                htReturn.Add(sName, sValue );
                                break;
                        }
                            
                            Debug.WriteLine("Prop name is " + Prop.Name);
                            Debug.WriteLine("Property Value is " + sValue);
                    }
                    catch (Exception e) { }//Continue to the next item
                }//End for each
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                throw ex;
            }
            return htReturn;
        }

I implemented the interface but the properties aren't showing except for Site which is implemented with the Interface.

This leads me to believe that the problem is my understanding of the difference between VB.Net and C#. I think that The way I'm exposing the properties is wrong.

What I'm doing:

public static String myprop = "This is my Property"<br />

What I should be doing:

private String myprop = "This is my Property"<br />
<p><br />
public static String MyProp ()<br />
   {<br />
      get{return myprop}<br />
      set{myprop = value}<br />
   )<br />
</p>

I'm also looking at Type.Getmembers or Type.Getfields

Any other Ideas ?

Thanks,
Michael Z.