Adding all string constants from a class to a List of string constants in C#

Question

I have a class,

        public static class Permissions
        {
            public const string AccessRightFormAdmin = "TEST1";
            public const string AccessRightExperimental = "TEST2";
        }

I want to have List<string> myConsts = new List<string>; such that, myConsts contains all the string constants from the Permissions class. How can I achieve this in C#?

You're probably going to have to do it manually, or use reflection to accomplish this. Have you considered using an enum instead? It would achieve your goal in a simpler manner. — jhmckimm
– jhmckimm, Commented Feb 8, 2022 at 23:23
This is a bad idea. If you put it in a list it's not const anymore. And you would have to access them by index which is bad for readability. — David Libido
– David Libido, Commented Feb 8, 2022 at 23:52
Keep them in a list to start with, and make those fields into read only properties that pull from the list — Caius Jard
– Caius Jard, Commented Feb 9, 2022 at 0:07

David L · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-08 23:42:01Z

6

If you want to avoid having to manually maintain your myConsts collection, you will have to use reflection.

public readonly List<string> myConsts = 
    typeof(Permissions)
        .GetFields()
        .Select(x => x.GetValue(null).ToString())
        .ToList();

This looks at the Permissions type, selects all public fields, then pulls the values from those FieldInfo into a new collection.

answered Feb 8, 2022 at 23:42

David L

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Comments

Serge · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-09 00:25:26Z

1

Instead of string, better to use KeyValuePair, this way constants can be used the same way as enumerations.

List<KeyValuePair<string,string>> consts = typeof(Permission).GetFields()
.Select(p => new KeyValuePair<string,string> ( p.Name, (string)p.GetValue(null))).ToList();

result

AccessRightFormAdmin    TEST1
AccessRightExperimental TEST2

edited Feb 9, 2022 at 0:25

answered Feb 8, 2022 at 23:27

Serge

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2 Comments

tRuEsAtM Over a year ago

But, if I add things to Permission class then I have to update my List as well, trying to avoid that.

Serge Over a year ago

Why do you need to keep 2 copies? It doesn't make any sense.

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