Question

How do I dynamically pass string methods to be applied to strings at run time.
ex.

Private String Formatting(String Data, String Format)

When we pass String S1 = "S1111tring Manipulation" and format = Remove(1,4) – behind the scenes it becomes S1.Remove(1,4) resulting in “String Manipulation”

or if we pass String S1 = "S1111tring Manipulation" and format = ToLower() behind the scene it becomes S1.ToLower() resulting in "s1111tring manipulation"

I should be able to pass any valid method like PadLeft(25,'0'), PadRight, Replace etc…

I would appreciate a complete example

This is what I have tried and it does not work

using System.Reflection;
string MainString = "S1111tring Manipulation";
string strFormat = "Remove(1, 4)";
string result = DoFormat(MainString, strFormat);

private string DoFormat(string data, string format)
        {
            MethodInfo mi = typeof(string).GetMethod(format, new Type[0]);
            if (null == mi)
                throw new Exception(String.Format("Could not find method with name '{0}'", format));

            return mi.Invoke(data, null).ToString();
        } 

throws an error (Could not find method with name ‘Remove(1, 4)’) – so I am not sure how to proceed

Answer 1

Have a look at Reflection. You can essentially implement what you’re describing using it save for the parsing of the user supplied text.

The smiple example you’ve used there would be something like,

var method = "ToLower()";
var methodInfo = typeof(String).GetMethod(method);
var string = "foo";
string.GetType().InvokeMember(....);