Reflection on SilverLight. How can we call the private method

Reflection on SilverLight. How can we call the private method

09-30-2008 4:37 AM |

I think the reflection library on SL has a bug. When I call a private method, the system always throws exception MethodAccessException.

            ConstructorInfo ci = typeof(Hello).GetConstructor(BindingFlags.NonPublic| BindingFlags.Instance ,null,System.Type.EmptyTypes,null);
            object helloObject = ci.Invoke(System.Type.EmptyTypes);
            MethodInfo[] helloObjectMethods = helloObject.GetType().GetMethods(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.DeclaredOnly| BindingFlags.Instance );
 
            foreach (MethodInfo mi in helloObjectMethods)
            {
                mi.Invoke(helloObject, System.Type.EmptyTypes);
            }
            Console.ReadLine();

1     public class Hello
2        {
3            public Hello()
4            {
5                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Private Constructor");
6            }
7            public void HelloPub()
8            {
9                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Public Hello");
10           }
11           private void HelloPriv()
12           {
13               System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Private Hello");
14           }
15       }

However when I use this code in a Windows Form Application, it runs well.

PS: I get this source code from the blog of this guy: http://www.canerten.com/reflection-with-private-members

I don't break out the copyright law  

Re: Re: Reflection on SilverLight. How can we call the private method

09-30-2008 9:56 PM |

I think when we use reflection, we should able to do everything, we should able to access to private, protected method and property.

In Java, we have the function Method.SetAccessible(bool flag), so we easy to call the private method

In .Net 3.5, We have the BindingFlag, so we can find the private and protected method, and we can invoke them

However in SilverLight, we can't.

The main idea I want to talk about is why .Net 3.5 can invoke private method but SL can't.

Re: Re: Reflection on SilverLight. How can we call the private method

10-03-2008 5:48 AM |

Everything rests on Security. However, it seems that Microsoft is not willing to provide private access in case of Reflection.

Re: Re: Reflection on SilverLight. How can we call the private method

08-13-2009 3:12 PM |

It makes sense to me. Exposing private methods to reflection on the client could be a serious security risk. If what you're trying to do absolutely relies on reflecting a private method and there's no way around it, perhaps you might want to reconsider the encapsulation on your classes.