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C# reflection to display a struct's members with their descriptions

/ Published in: C#
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I frequently need to create a struct to be displayed in an app. The DescriptionAttribute is used to display a member's description.

Room for improvement:
* nested structs/enums
* Implement a TreeViewAble Interface

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  1. private struct TestStruct
  2. {
  3.    #region Members to be display
  4.  
  5.    [DescriptionAttribute("an integer")]
  6.    public int i;
  7.  
  8.    [DescriptionAttribute("a bool")]
  9.    public bool b;
  10.  
  11.    // no DescriptionAttribute
  12.    public bool b2;
  13.  
  14.    #endregion 
  15.  
  16.    // Example usage: myStruct.Render(treeView1.Nodes);
  17.    public void Render(TreeNodeCollection arg)
  18.    {
  19.  
  20.       foreach (FieldInfo field in typeof(TestStruct).GetFields())
  21.       {
  22.  
  23.          DescriptionAttribute[] attributes = (DescriptionAttribute[])field.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
  24.          string description = attributes.Length>0 ? attributes[0].Description : field.ToString();
  25.  
  26.          //AttributeCollection attributes = TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(field)[field.Name].Attributes;
  27.          //DescriptionAttribute myAttribute = (DescriptionAttribute)attributes[typeof(DescriptionAttribute)];
  28.  
  29.          // Show something like "My integer, 123 (Int32, i)"
  30.          string s = string.Format("{0}, {1}  ({2}, {3})",
  31.             description,          // DescriptionAttribute
  32.             field.GetValue(this), // value of
  33.             field.FieldType.Name,
  34.             field.Name // name of structure member
  35.          );
  36.          arg.Add(s);
  37.       }
  38.    }
  39. };

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