What is Reflection in C#?

Reflection in C# is a powerful feature that allows you to inspect and manipulate the metadata of types (classes, structs, interfaces, enums) and their members (properties, methods, fields, events, constructors) at runtime. With reflection, you can dynamically examine and interact with the structure and behavior of types and members in your code, even if you don't have compile-time knowledge of them.

💡In simple terms, reflection in C# is like having a magnifying glass for your code. It allows you to inspect and manipulate your program's building blocks (like classes, methods, and properties) while it's running. Imagine being able to see what methods an object has, or even call them directly, without knowing their names beforehand!

Reflection provides a set of classes in the .NET Framework, primarily in the System.Reflection namespace, that enable you to:

1. Retrieve Type Information: You can obtain information about types dynamically, including their name, namespace, base type, implemented interfaces, and more.

2. Inspect Members: Reflection allows you to enumerate and access the properties, methods, fields, events, and constructors of types, as well as retrieve metadata such as their names, return types, parameter types, access modifiers, and attributes.

3. Invoke Methods and Access Properties Dynamically: Reflection provides mechanisms to dynamically invoke methods, access properties, set fields, and raise events on objects at runtime, without knowing their types at compile time.

4. Create Instances Dynamically: Reflection enables you to create instances of types dynamically, even if the type is not known at compile time, by invoking constructors and activating objects.

5. Work with Attributes: Reflection allows you to examine the attributes applied to types and members, and to retrieve attribute values dynamically.

Reflection is commonly used in various scenarios, such as:

• Creating plugins or extensions that can be loaded dynamically at runtime.
• Implementing serialization and deserialization mechanisms.
• Building frameworks and tools that need to inspect or manipulate types and members dynamically.
• Writing code that adapts to changes in the structure of types at runtime.

While reflection provides powerful capabilities, it should be used judiciously due to its performance overhead and potential for runtime errors if used incorrectly. Additionally, it's worth noting that reflection may not work with all types of assemblies, such as assemblies compiled with certain security restrictions or obfuscation techniques.