Check if property has attribute

You can use a common (generic) method to read attribute over a given MemberInfo

public static bool TryGetAttribute<T>(MemberInfo memberInfo, out T customAttribute) where T: Attribute {
                var attributes = memberInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(T), false).FirstOrDefault();
                if (attributes == null) {
                    customAttribute = null;
                    return false;
                }
                customAttribute = (T)attributes;
                return true;
            }

There's no fast way to retrieve attributes. But code ought to look like this (credit to Aaronaught):

var t = typeof(YourClass);
var pi = t.GetProperty("Id");
var hasIsIdentity = Attribute.IsDefined(pi, typeof(IsIdentity));

If you need to retrieve attribute properties then

var t = typeof(YourClass);
var pi = t.GetProperty("Id");
var attr = (IsIdentity[])pi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(IsIdentity), false);
if (attr.Length > 0) {
    // Use attr[0], you'll need foreach on attr if MultiUse is true
}

If you are using .NET 3.5 you might try with Expression trees. It is safer than reflection:

class CustomAttribute : Attribute { }

class Program
{
    [Custom]
    public int Id { get; set; }

    static void Main()
    {
        Expression<Func<Program, int>> expression = p => p.Id;
        var memberExpression = (MemberExpression)expression.Body;
        bool hasCustomAttribute = memberExpression
            .Member
            .GetCustomAttributes(typeof(CustomAttribute), false).Length > 0;
    }
}

This can now be done without expression trees and extension methods in a type safe manner with the new C# feature nameof() like this:

Attribute.IsDefined(typeof(YourClass).GetProperty(nameof(YourClass.Id)), typeof(IsIdentity));

nameof() was introduced in C# 6

Tags:

C#

Performance