asked on

Accessing C# Variables...

Hi,

I have a class which has three variables defined:
> int a
> int b
> int c

And a function:
> SetVariableValue(String variable, int value)

I need to be able to call the function, SetVariableValue("b", 23), which sets the variable b to the value 23.

How do I go about setting a variable, when I only have a string which represents it?

Thanks,
Tym.

mrichmon

I think that you would need to use reflection to do this.

Otherwise you could have a struct or some other object like a dictionary instead of the variables itself so like this:

Dictionary<string, int> myInts = new Dictionary();

// initialize
myInts["a"] = 0;
myInts["b"] = 0;
myInts["c"] = 0;

Then later
SetVariableValue("b", 23) would look like:

public void SetVariableValue(string key, int value)
{
myInts[key] = value;
}

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Mike Tomlinson

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

Sinclair

Keep in mind that reflection is very, very slow (compared to an IDictionary), so I'd avoid it if at all possible.

Mihai Stancescu

You can use in the SetVariableValue a switch:

public void SetVariableValue(string variable, int value)
{
switch (variable)
{
case ("a"):
{
this.a = value;
break;
}
case ("b"):
{
this.b = value;
break;
}
case ("c"):
{
this.c = value;
break;
}
}
}

Hope it helps.
Regards,
Mishu

SOLUTION

existenz2

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial