Question

We have a scenario where in if an entity exists between the source and target, we are supposed to merge data in the target i.e. copy values from foundation columns where the target column is blank.

We are using WCF servcie calls and we have the entity objects.

If i have an entity lets say Staff, staff conatins the basic properties for name, etc and we have a list for StaffAddress, StaffEmail, and StaffPhone.

So I just wanted to know is there a way using LINQ or any other mechanism – I can find out the list of property on the Staff object which are null or blank ?

One rudimentary way is to of course manually check one property by one which is blank ?

Answer 1

Here’s a quick and dirty way to do it with LINQ

public static IEnumerable<string> FindBlankFields(Staff staff) {     return staff.GetType()         .GetProperties(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public |             BindingFlags.NonPublic)         .Where(p => p.CanRead)         .Select(p => new { Property = p, Value = p.GetValue(staff, null) })         .Where(a => a.Value == null || String.IsNullOrEmpty(a.Value.ToString()))         .Select(a => a.Property.Name); }