How to parse Vstudio C# Project file and get all class names and get all methodnames and properties

Question

1.44/5 (2 votes)

See more:

How can I parse a C# project file and get all class names and method names so that I can use the class names and method like intellisense of Vstudio in my C# application .

Posted 5-Feb-11 14:17pm

Pabanas Ashok

Add a Solution

Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Feb-11 21:00pm

Interesting question.

4 solutions

Solution 3

I was thinking about alternative Answer to avoid compilation of all of the code, which can be a key — see my first answer.

Here is what I got here.

You could use System.CodeDom to obtain a CodeDOM program graph, represented by the top-level node System.CodeDom.CodeCompileUnit. I looks like System.CodeDom.Compiler.CodeDomProvider can do it using its Parse method. For C#, for example, it would look like that:

C#

System.IO.StreamReader reader = new System.IO.StreamReader("MyCode.cs");
System.CodeDom.Compiler.CodeDomProvider provider = new Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider();
System.CodeDom.CodeCompileUnit dom = provider.Parse(reader);

Unfortunately, this is not so easy: a call to Parse throws exception "This CodeDomProvider does not support this method.". Not implemented means not implemented; there is no a way around it using this provider. I needs some alternative provider or parser.

The only utility I know is the Open Source ICSharpCode.NRefactory which is a parser library for C# and VB.NET: http://wiki.sharpdevelop.net/NRefactory.ashx[^].

Using the source code of this utility should give the parsed data required in this Question.
I never tried though.

—SA

Posted 6-Feb-11 15:16pm

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

Updated 6-Feb-11 16:59pm

v2

Comments

JF2015 7-Feb-11 0:22am

Good answer.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 7-Feb-11 21:16pm

Thank you.
--SA

Manfred Rudolf Bihy 7-Feb-11 3:20am

Agreed! 5+

Solution 2

The only way I see it, you need to build your project using reflection.
Best of luck!

Posted 5-Feb-11 18:19pm

Abhinav S

Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Feb-11 21:17pm

Maybe the alternative way does exists. Please see my second (alternative) Answer as well as the concerns related to Reflection in my first Answer.
Thank you.
--SA

Solution 4

First grab a package by typing the following in VS' Package Manager Console:

Quote:
Install-Package Microsoft.CodeAnalysis -Pre

Congrats! you have Roslyn[^] capability in your project, which means you can certainly do something like:

C#

string code = @"C# or VB code, read from file, network, device or any thinkable source";
SyntaxTree ast = SyntaxTree.ParseCompilationUnit(code); // Abstract syntax tree provider
CompilationUnitSyntax root = ast.Root as CompilationUnitSyntax;

Now, to get usings, you can do something like: root.Usings.

Or even traverse the decendents using DescendentNodes. You can also find the descendents of interest using Linq:

C#

ExpressionSyntax chunks =   root.DescendentNodes()
                                .OfType<expressionsyntax>()
                                .FirstOrDefault();

To find syntax types to which you can cast, see this blog[^] use your favorite .NET disassembler to explore.

HTH.

Posted 27-Apr-14 1:45am

Member 10778171

Updated 27-Apr-14 1:52am

v4

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-05T14:56:00

I don't know how Intellisense works with Visual Studio, but I know in fine detail how a project works and can say for sure: parsing of the project will not provide any essential help. The project only contains a structure of the projects: basically, source files, dependencies and methods of processing of the source files (more than that, in fact but I listed all that matters). Accessing of all the types and all their members, all the meta-data is pretty easy with Reflection. There is only one problem: Intellisense shows even the methods (parameters, etc) of the code which fails to compile!

If not that feature, Reflection-based implementation would be easy. The project could be pre-build in memory (it is important to do it in a separate AppDomain, otherwise it would cause tremendous memory leak, because otherwise a compiled assembly could not be removed) and the meta-data obtained. As to the project that fails to build… Theoretically, this is not impossible, but certainly there is no easy way to accomplish this.

You could learn how Intellisense is implemented in Open Source SharpDevelop: http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/Default.aspx[^], but this is not the same.

All the aspect of dealing with projects and building them are covered in name space Microsoft.Build: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg145008.aspx[^]. This is quite a big topic, including several Microsoft assemblies. To learn developing Visual Studio Extensions one can start here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd885119.aspx[^].

Sorry I cannot provide complete answer. I just think that this information and considerations are better then nothing. At least it may help you to avoid wasting your valuable time along some of the wrong lines.

—SA

How to parse Vstudio C# Project file and get all class names and get all methodnames and properties

4 solutions

Solution 1

Solution 3

Solution 2

Solution 4

Add your solution here

Preview 0

Existing Members

...or Join us