c# - Obtain parameter values from a stack frame in .NET?

Question

I would like to be able to obtain all the parameter values from the stack frame in .NET. A bit like how you're able to see the values in the call stack when in the Visual Studio debugger. My approach has concentrated on using the StackFrame class and then to reflect over a ParameterInfo array. I've had success with reflection and properties, but this is proving a bit trickier.

Is there an approach for achieving this?

The code so far looks like this:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        A a = new A();
        a.Go(1);
    }
}

public class A
{
    internal void Go(int x)
    {
        B b = new B();
        b.Go(4);
    }
}

public class B
{
    internal void Go(int y)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(GetStackTrace());

    }
    public static string GetStackTrace()
    {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        StackTrace st = new StackTrace(true);
        StackFrame[] frames = st.GetFrames();

        foreach (StackFrame frame in frames)
        {
            MethodBase method = frame.GetMethod();

            sb.AppendFormat("{0} - {1}",method.DeclaringType, method.Name);
            ParameterInfo[] paramaters = method.GetParameters();
            foreach (ParameterInfo paramater in paramaters)
            {
                sb.AppendFormat("{0}: {1}", paramater.Name, paramater.ToString());
            }
            sb.AppendLine();
        }
        return sb.ToString();
    }
}

The output looks like this:

SfApp.B - GetStackTrace
SfApp.B - Go
y: Int32 y
SfApp.A - Go
x: Int32 x
SfApp.Program - Main
args: System.String[] args

I'd like it to look more like this:

SfApp.B - GetStackTrace
SfApp.B - Go
y: 4
SfApp.A - Go
x: 1
SfApp.Program - Main

---

Just for a bit of context, my plan was to try and use this when I throw my own exceptions. I'll look at your suggestions in more detail and see if I can see it fitting.

Answer 1

It seems it can't be done that way. It will only provide meta information about the method and its parameters. Not the actual value at the time of the callstack.

Some suggest deriving your classes from ContextBoundObject and use IMessageSink to be notified off all method calls and the values of the parameters. This is normally used for .NET Remoting.

Another suggestion might be to write a debugger. This is how the IDE gets its information. Microsoft has Mdbg of which you can get the source code. Or write a CLR profiler.