.NET Reflection and an array.

Question

I'm trying to get the value of a property that is a single dimensional array via reflection

I tried something like this: (try catches removed for clarity)

string[] fieldOrder;
PropertyInfo fieldOrderColumn;

fieldOrderColumn = targetType.GetProperty("OrderArray");

if (fieldOrderColumn == null)
    throw new Exception(targetType.Name + " the OrderArray is null ");

fieldOrder = (string[])fieldOrderColumn.GetValue(targetType, null);  //what should I use insted of this?

Clearly the last line is wrong, and is trying to get a non array object, I assumed a quick google and I'd be on my way, but I'm unable to find it. I don't know the lenght of the array at run time.

Any hints or links or help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

You need to pass an instance of the type into GetValue. If it is a static property, pass null. Currently you are passing the type. I would expect to see (roughly):

Type targetType = obj.GetType();
...[snip]
fieldOrder = (string[])fieldOrderColumn.GetValue(obj, null);

Note that if you aren't sure of the type of array, you can just use Array (instead of string[]), or for single-dimension arrays IList may be useful (and will handle arrays, lists etc):

IList list = (IList)fieldOrderColumn.GetValue(obj, null);