• Article

Type.GetProperty Method (String, Type, array<Type[])

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Searches for the specified public property whose parameters match the specified argument types.

Namespace:  System
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
Public Function GetProperty ( _
    name As String, _
    returnType As Type, _
    types As Type() _
) As PropertyInfo

public PropertyInfo GetProperty(
    string name,
    Type returnType,
    Type[] types
)

Parameters

  • returnType
    Type: System.Type
    The return type of the property.
  • types
    Type: array<System.Type[]
    An array of Type objects representing the number, order, and type of the parameters for the indexed property to get.
    -or-
    An empty array of the type Type (that is, Type[] types = new Type[0]) to get a property that is not indexed.

Return Value

Type: System.Reflection.PropertyInfo
A PropertyInfo object representing the public property whose parameters match the specified argument types, if found; otherwise, nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

Exceptions

Exception Condition
AmbiguousMatchException

More than one property is found with the specified name and matching the specified argument types.
ArgumentNullException

name is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

-or-

types is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).
ArgumentException

types is multidimensional.
NullReferenceException

An element of types is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

Remarks

A property is considered public to reflection if it has at least one accessor that is public. Otherwise the property is considered private, and you must use BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Static (in Visual Basic, combine the values using Or) to get it.

The search for name is case-sensitive. The search includes public static and public instance properties.

If the current Type represents a constructed generic type, this method returns the PropertyInfo with the type parameters replaced by the appropriate type arguments.

If the current Type represents a type parameter in the definition of a generic type or generic method, this method searches the properties of the class constraint.

Indexers and Default Properties

Visual Basic 2005, Visual C# 2005, and Visual C++ 2005 have simplified syntax for accessing indexed properties and allow one indexed property to be a default for its type. For example, if the variable myList refers to a List<T>, the syntax myList[3] (myList(3) in Visual Basic) retrieves the element with the index of 3. You can overload the property.

In C#, this feature is called an indexer and cannot be refered to by name. By default, a C# indexer appears in metadata as an indexed property named "Item". However, a class library developer can use the IndexerNameAttribute attribute to change the name of the indexer in the metadata. For example, the String class has an indexer named Chars. Indexed properties created using languages other than C# can have names other than Item, as well. 

To determine whether a type has a default property, use the GetCustomAttributes(Type, Boolean) method to test for the DefaultMemberAttribute attribute. If the type has DefaultMemberAttribute, the MemberName property returns the name of the default property.

Platform Notes

Silverlight for Windows Phone Silverlight for Windows Phone

 GetProperty throws NullReferenceException instead of ArgumentNullException when types contains a nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic) element.

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.