How to get the source file name and the line number of a type member?

Question

Considering that the debug data file is available (PDB) and by using either System.Reflection or another similar framework such as Mono.Cecil, how to retrieve programmatically the source file name and the line number where a type or a member of a type is declared.

For example, let's say you have compiled this file into an assembly:

C:\MyProject\Foo.cs

1:    public class Foo
2:    {
3:       public string SayHello()
4:       {
5:           return "Hello";
6:       }
7:    }

How to do something like:

MethodInfo methodInfo = typeof(Foo).GetMethod("SayHello");
string sourceFileName = methodInfo.GetSourceFile(); // ?? Does not exist!
int sourceLineNumber = methodInfo.GetLineNumber(); // ?? Does not exist!

sourceFileName would contain "C:\MyProject\Foo.cs" and sourceLineNumber be equal to 3.

Update: System.Diagnostics.StackFrame is indeed able to get that information, but only in the scope of current executing call stack. It means that the method must be invoked first. I would like to get the same info, but without invoking the type member.

Answer 1

i'm not 100% sure, but I think the System.Diagnostics StackTrace is your friend:

http://www.theserverside.net/discussions/thread.tss?thread_id=27535

Answer 2

you might find some help with these links:

Getting file and line numbers without deploying the PDB files also found this following post

"Hi Mark,

The following will give you the line number of your code (in the source file):

Dim CurrentStack As System.Diagnostics.StackTrace MsgBox (CurrentStack.GetFrame(0).GetFileLineNumber)

In case you're interested, you can find out about the routine that you're in, as well as all its callers.

Public Function MeAndMyCaller As String Dim CurrentStack As New System.Diagnostics.StackTrace Dim Myself As String = CurrentStack.GetFrame(0).GetMethod.Name Dim MyCaller As String = CurrentStack.GetFrame(1).GetMethod.Name Return "In " & Myself & vbCrLf & "Called by " & MyCaller End Function

This can be very handy if you want a generalised error routine because it can get the name of the caller (which would be where the error occurred).

Regards, Fergus MVP [Windows Start button, Shutdown dialogue] "

Answer 3

Hi Yann, Did u able to get answer for your question. I am looking for the same.

Thanks,

Answer 4

The code sample at the following URL provides a class that you can easily modify to get the information you're after:

http://blogs.msdn.com/rmbyers/pages/code-sample-stacktrace-with-manual-symbol-lookup.aspx

Answer 5

By using the PDB reader provided by the CCI Metadata Project, it is possible to extract the code location of a given type member. See an example implementation in the source code of the OSS Gallio Project.