Question

I have a method that returns an object:

private object myObjectMethod(){ 
    //...
    return myObject;
}

But in another method I want to retrieve this object:

private void myotherMethod(){   
    var x = myObjectMethod();
    // Now how would I access the properties of myObject?
}

Answer 1

The best way is to just return the actual type you’re dealing with from the method

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But if that’s not an option, and you really are stuck with just object being returned from your method, you have a few options.

If you know the right type, casting would be the simplest way:

((ActualType)x).SomeProperty;

Or to test that the cast is correct:

string val;
if (x is ActualType)
    val = (x as ActualType).SomeProperty;

Or, if you know the property name, but not the type of x, then:

PropertyInfo pi = x.GetType().GetProperty("SomeProperty");
string somePropertyValue = (string)pi.GetValue(x, null);

Or, if you’re using C# 4, you could use dynamic

string somePropertyValue = ((dynamic)x).SomeProperty;

Just don’t go crazy with dynamic. If you find yourself using dynamic excessively, there may be some deeper issues with your code.