Question

I have a sql stored procedure that I run that returns a class name. For example it returns “orange”. I have a class called “orange”. Is it possible to use that return string to access orange.GrabFiles?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You can use System.Reflection to get the class which you need and invoke the method you want to call.

To do this you can iterate though all types of the assembly and pick the right one for you. If you have special names you can use attributes to link a specific type with a special name.

Search the type

// Type to find
String name = "orange";
// I assume you only use one assembly
Assembly asm = Assembly.GetCallingAssembly();
// Iterate though all types
foreach (Type item in asm.GetTypes())
{
    if (item.Name == name)
    {
        return item;
    }
    else
    {
        // A class can have multiple SpecialNameAttributes, this is a attribute you have to create
        SpecialNameAttribute[] attributes = (SpecialNameAttribute[])item.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(SpecialNameAttribute));
        foreach (SpecialNameAttribute attribute in attributes)
        {
            if (attribute.Name == name) return item;
        }
    }
}
return null;

Invoke the method

With instance creation:

Object instance = Activator.CreateInstance(typeFound);
typeFound.GetMethod("GrabFiles").Invoke(instance, ...);

Without instance:

typeFound.GetMethod("GrabFiles").Invoke(null, ...);