c# - How to check if property setter is public

Question

Given a PropertyInfo object, how can I check that the setter of the property is public?

Answer 1

.NET properties are really a wrapping shell around a get and set method.

You can use the GetSetMethod method on the PropertyInfo, returning the MethodInfo referring to the setter. You can do the same thing with GetGetMethod.

These methods will return null if the getter/setter is non-public.

The correct code here is:

bool IsPublic = propertyInfo.GetSetMethod() != null;

Answer 2

Check what you get back from GetSetMethod:

MethodInfo setMethod = propInfo.GetSetMethod();

if (setMethod == null)
{
    // The setter doesn't exist or isn't public.
}

Or, to put a different spin on Richard's answer:

if (propInfo.CanWrite && propInfo.GetSetMethod(/*nonPublic*/ true).IsPublic)
{
    // The setter exists and is public.
}

Note that if all you want to do is set a property as long as it has a setter, you don't actually have to care whether the setter is public. You can just use it, public or private:

// This will give you the setter, whatever its accessibility,
// assuming it exists.
MethodInfo setter = propInfo.GetSetMethod(/*nonPublic*/ true);

if (setter != null)
{
    // Just be aware that you're kind of being sneaky here.
    setter.Invoke(target, new object[] { value });
}

Answer 3

public class Program
{
    class Foo
    {
        public string Bar { get; private set; }
    }

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var prop = typeof(Foo).GetProperty("Bar");
        if (prop != null)
        {
            // The property exists
            var setter = prop.GetSetMethod(true);
            if (setter != null)
            {
                // There's a setter
                Console.WriteLine(setter.IsPublic);
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

You need to use the underling method to determine accessibility, using PropertyInfo.GetGetMethod() or PropertyInfo.GetSetMethod().

// Get a PropertyInfo instance...
var info = typeof(string).GetProperty ("Length");

// Then use the get method or the set method to determine accessibility
var isPublic = (info.GetGetMethod(true) ?? info.GetSetMethod(true)).IsPublic;

Note, however, that the getter & setter may have different accessibilities, e.g.:

class Demo {
    public string Foo {/* public/* get; protected set; }
}

So you can't assume that the getter and the setter will have the same visibility.