Get property value from string using reflection

How about something like this:

public static Object GetPropValue(this Object obj, String name) {
    foreach (String part in name.Split('.')) {
        if (obj == null) { return null; }

        Type type = obj.GetType();
        PropertyInfo info = type.GetProperty(part);
        if (info == null) { return null; }

        obj = info.GetValue(obj, null);
    }
    return obj;
}

public static T GetPropValue<T>(this Object obj, String name) {
    Object retval = GetPropValue(obj, name);
    if (retval == null) { return default(T); }

    // throws InvalidCastException if types are incompatible
    return (T) retval;
}

This will allow you to descend into properties using a single string, like this:

DateTime now = DateTime.Now;
int min = GetPropValue<int>(now, "TimeOfDay.Minutes");
int hrs = now.GetPropValue<int>("TimeOfDay.Hours");

You can either use these methods as static methods or extensions.


 public static object GetPropValue(object src, string propName)
 {
     return src.GetType().GetProperty(propName).GetValue(src, null);
 }

Of course, you will want to add validation and whatnot, but that is the gist of it.