Create code at runtime with Reflection in .NET C#: Properties

In the previous post of this short series we saw how to add a field to our custom type using Reflection. In this finishing post we’ll look at properties and how to save our dynamic assembly.

Properties can be created in two ways. First we can use the PropertyBuilder class:

PropertyBuilder priceProperty = simpleType.DefineProperty("Price", PropertyAttributes.None, typeof(int), Type.EmptyTypes);

This will create a standard property called Price which returns an integer and has no input parameters. You’d write it like this in Visual Studio:

public int Price { get; set; }

For some reason the PropertyAttributes enumeration doesn’t let you refine the characteristics of the property as much as e.g. MethodAttributes or FieldAttributes do. In case you’d like to define the visibility of the property you need to turn to the MethodBuilder object and use it in a special way. The methods will perform the get/set methods separately. The following code example creates a get and set method:

MethodAttributes pricePropertyAttributes = MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.SpecialName | MethodAttributes.HideBySig;
MethodBuilder getPriceBuilder = simpleType.DefineMethod("get_Price", pricePropertyAttributes, typeof(int), Type.EmptyTypes);
MethodBuilder setPriceBuilder = simpleType.DefineMethod("set_Price", pricePropertyAttributes, null, new Type[] { typeof(int) });
priceProperty.SetGetMethod(getPriceBuilder);
priceProperty.SetSetMethod(setPriceBuilder);

The SpecialName and HideBySig values indicate that these methods are special and will not be part of the public interface. The name of the get/set methods must follow a convention: “get_XXX” and “set_XXX” where ‘XXX’ is the name of the property like get_Price.

The special methods can be associated with the property using the SetGetMethod and SetSetMethod methods of the PropertyBuilder object.

Once you’re done with your custom assembly then it can be persisted on disk using the Save method of AssemblyBuilder:

assemblyBuilder.Save(assemblyFileName);

View all posts on Reflection here.