Question

Having those 2 classes:

class A
{
    public A()
    {
        strA1 = "A1";
        strA2 = "A2";
        strA3 = "A3";
    }

    public string strA1 { get; set; }
    public string strA2 { get; set; }
    public string strA3 { get; set; }
}

class B
{
    public B()
    {
        strB1 = "B1";
        strB2 = "B2";
    }

    public string strB1 { get; set; }
    public string strB2 { get; set; }
}

I am trying to find a way to have a single method (probably override toString()) that will generates information based on the number of properties in these classes.

For example the result would be:

for Class A: "{\""A1\"",\""A2\"",\""A3\""}";  // {"A1","A2","A3"}
for Class B: "{\""B1\"",\""B2\""}";           // {"B1","B2"}

How Can be done in a generic way without writing specific code in each class?

Probably a Base class is the starting … Please advise

Answer 1

You can get type info and public properties value with Reflection. Here is an extension method:

public static string ConvertToString(this object obj)
{
   Type type = obj.GetType();
   var properties = 
         type.GetProperties()
             .Where(p => p.GetGetMethod() != null)
             .Where(p => !p.GetIndexParameters().Any())
             .Select(p => p.GetValue(obj, null))
             .Select(x => String.Format("\"{0}\"", (x == null) ? "null" : x));

   return String.Format("{{{0}}}", String.Join(", ", properties));
}

Usage:

string info = new A().ConvertToString();

Output:

{"A1","A2","A3"}