c# - Strong Typing a property name in .NET

Question

Say I have a class with one property

Public Class MyClass
   Public Property MyItem() as Object
      ....
   End Property
End Class

I have to pass the name of the property to a function call. (Please don't ask why it should be done this way, its a third party framework). For example

SomeFunc("MyItem")

But what I would like to do is, change the string into a strongly typed parameter. Meaning, if the property name is renamed or changed, it should be reflected here too.

So something of this type :

Dim objectForStrongTyping as New MyClass()
SomeFunc(objectForStrongTyping.MyItem().Name())

I am sure this won't work. Is there a way this strong typing can be done? (C# or VB.NET, any thing is cool)

Answer 1

Here is a solution using classes from System.Linq.Expressions.

static MemberInfo GetMemberInfo<TObject, TProperty>(
    Expression<Func<TObject, TProperty>> expression
) {
    var member = expression.Body as MemberExpression;
    if (member != null) {
        return member.Member;
    }

    throw new ArgumentException("expression");
}

Just throw this in a class somewhere (ExpressionHelper?).

Usage:

class SomeClass {
    public string SomeProperty { get; set; }
}

MemberInfo member = GetMemberInfo((SomeClass s) => s.SomeProperty);
Console.WriteLine(member.Name); // prints "SomeProperty" on the console