Get Property Value from PropertyInfo [duplicate]

Question

This question already has an answer here:

• Using PropertyInfo.GetValue() 1 answer

I have the following class:

public class MagicMetadata
{
  public string DataLookupField { get; set; }
  public string DataLookupTable { get; set; }
  public List<string> Tags { get; set; }
}

And an instance of it, let's say:

MagicMetadata md = new MagicMetadata
{
  DataLookupField = "Engine_Displacement",
  DataLookupTable = "Vehicle_Options",
  Tags = new List<String>{"a","b","c"}
}

Given the MagicMetadata instance, I need to create a new object for each property, e.g.:

public class FormMetadataItem 
{
  public string FormFieldName { get; set; }
  public string MetadataLabel { get; set; }
}

So I am trying something like this as per c# foreach (property in object)... Is there a simple way of doing this?

foreach (PropertyInfo propertyInfo in md.GetType().GetProperties())
{
   new FormMetaData
   {
     FormFieldName = propertyInfo.Name,
     MetadataLabel = propertyInfo.GetValue(metadata.Name) //This doesn't work
   }
}

What I don't understand is how I get the value for the property that I am looping through. I don't understand the documentation at all. Why do I need to pass it the object? What object?

P.S. I looked through the existing answers here, and I don't see a clear answer.

Answer 1

Update to:

foreach (PropertyInfo propertyInfo in md.GetType().GetProperties())
{
   new FormMetaData
   {
     FormFieldName = propertyInfo.Name,
     MetadataLabel = propertyInfo.GetValue(md) // <--
   }
}

PropertyInfo.GetValue() expects an instance of the object that contains the property whose value you're trying to get. In your foreach loop, that instance seems to be md.

---

Also note the distinction between property and field in C#. Properties are the members that have get and/or set:

class MyClass {
    string MyProperty {get; set;} // This is a property
    string MyField; // This is a field
}

And while reflecting, you need to access these members separately via the myObj.GetType().GetProperties() and myObj.GetType().GetFields() methods.