.NET Framework Reflection Getting an attribute of an enum with reflection (and caching it)
Example
Attributes can be useful for denoting metadata on enums. Getting the value of this can be slow, so it is important to cache results.
private static Dictionary<object, object> attributeCache = new Dictionary<object, object>();
public static T GetAttribute<T, V>(this V value)
where T : Attribute
where V : struct
{
object temp;
// Try to get the value from the static cache.
if (attributeCache.TryGetValue(value, out temp))
{
return (T) temp;
}
else
{
// Get the type of the struct passed in.
Type type = value.GetType();
FieldInfo fieldInfo = type.GetField(value.ToString());
// Get the custom attributes of the type desired found on the struct.
T[] attribs = (T[])fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(T), false);
// Return the first if there was a match.
var result = attribs.Length > 0 ? attribs[0] : null;
// Cache the result so future checks won't need reflection.
attributeCache.Add(value, result);
return result;
}
}
