Determine Calling Object Type in C#

Question

Regardless of whether or not this is a good idea, is it possible to implement an interface where the executing function is aware of the calling object\'s type?

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Answer 1

Starting with Visual Studio 2012 (.NET Framework 4.5) you can automatically pass caller information to a method by using caller attributes (VB and C#).

public void TheCaller()
{
    SomeMethod();
}

public void SomeMethod([CallerMemberName] string memberName = "")
{
    Console.WriteLine(memberName); // ==> "TheCaller"
}

The caller attributes are in the System.Runtime.CompilerServices namespace.

---

This is ideal for the implementation of INotifyPropertyChanged:

private void OnPropertyChanged([CallerMemberName]string caller = null) {
     var handler = PropertyChanged;
     if (handler != null) {
        handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(caller));
     }
}

Example:

private string _name;
public string Name
{
    get { return _name; }
    set
    {
        if (value != _name) {
            _name = value;
            OnPropertyChanged(); // Call without the optional parameter!
        }
    }
}