Difference between ParameterInfo.IsOptional and ParameterInfo.HasDefaultValue?

Question

They both sound similar. From msdn:

ParameterInfo.IsOptional

Gets a value indicating whether this parameter is optional.

This method depends on an optional metadata flag. This flag can be inserted by compilers, but the compilers are not obligated to do so.

This method utilizes the Optional flag of the ParameterAttributes enumerator.

ParameterInfo.HasDefaultValue (new in .NET 4.5)

Gets a value that indicates whether this parameter has a default value.

Aren't they the same? I did quick test:

public void A(string value)
{

}
public void B(string value, int i = -1)
{

}

I wrote:

var a = AInfo.GetParameters().Select(p => p.HasDefaultValue).ToArray();
var b = AInfo.GetParameters().Select(p => p.IsOptional).ToArray();

var c = BInfo.GetParameters().Select(p => p.HasDefaultValue).ToArray();
var d = BInfo.GetParameters().Select(p => p.IsOptional).ToArray();

//a equals b; and c equals d

So in which context are they different? Why did BCL introduce HasDefaultValue in .NET 4.5 newly?

Answer 1

If we look at the implementation of IsOptional we will see:

public bool IsOptional
{
  [__DynamicallyInvokable] get
  {
    return (this.Attributes & ParameterAttributes.Optional) != ParameterAttributes.None;
  }
}

It depends on a metadata flag, but as it is written in the msdn:

This method depends on an optional metadata flag. This flag can be inserted by compilers, but the compilers are not obligated to do so.

This means that it depends on the compiler and if we use other compiler, we can get that parameter that has default value will not have IsOptional flag. Now let's see how HasDefaultValue property implemented:

public override bool HasDefaultValue
{
  get
  {
    if (this.m_noMetadata || this.m_noDefaultValue)
      return false;
    else
      return this.GetDefaultValueInternal(false) != DBNull.Value;
  }
}

It always checks whether the parameter has default value and does not depend on the compiler. This may not be a 100% correct answer, just my thoughts.

UPDATE 0

Here's example where parameter has not default value but IsOptional is true:

public static void Method([Optional]string parameter)
{
}

ParameterInfo parameterInfo = typeof(Program).GetMethod("Method").GetParameters()[0];
//Is true
bool isOptional = parameterInfo.IsOptional;
//Is false
bool hasDefaultValue = parameterInfo.HasDefaultValue;