c# how to get input buffer property value as string

Question

I need to get the value of each property in an inputbuffer, I can get the name of the property but I can't get the value, I need to add the name and the value in a dictionary. This is my code:

public override void Input0_ProcessInputRow(Input0Buffer Row)
{
    Dictionary<string, string> body = new Dictionary<string, string>();

    foreach (PropertyInfo inputColumn in Row.GetType().GetProperties())
    {
        if (!inputColumn.Name.EndsWith("IsNull"))
                body.Add(inputColumn.Name, Row.GetType().GetProperty(inputColumn.Name).GetValue(Row).ToString() );
    }
}

I got this exception: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

Answer 1

You just need to call GetValue on the inputColumn object like this:

public override void Input0_ProcessInputRow(Input0Buffer Row)
{
    Dictionary<string, string> body = new Dictionary<string, string>();

    foreach (PropertyInfo inputColumn in Row.GetType().GetProperties())
    {
        if (!inputColumn.Name.EndsWith("IsNull"))
        {
            body.Add(inputColumn.Name, 
               (string)inputColumn.GetValue(Row));
        }
    }
}

You can simplify the whole method with a bit of Linq, and also make it generic like this:

public void ProcessRow<T>(T item)
{
    var body = typeof(T) // Get the type
        .GetProperties() // Get all properties
        .Where(p => !p.Name.EndsWith("IsNull")) // Exclude properties ending with "IsNull"
        .ToDictionary( // Return a dictionary
            p => p.Name, 
            p => (string) p.GetValue(item));
}

You could also be even safer by making sure you only call properties that return string values with an additional Where clause:

.Where(p => p.PropertyType == typeof(string))

Or if you want to include other property types (e.g. int), then you will need to revert to using ToString:

p => p.GetValue(item).ToString()

That way you can reuse this method for other object types.