Using the AWS InstanceType Properties in a C# DropDownCombo

Introduction

The InstanceType class has properties representing the names of each type of instance you can launch on AWS. Instead of hard-coding these names into your code, you can iterate through the InstantType class and fill a ComboBox with these names.

Background

Many would maybe start out by doing this:

foreach (var property in InstanceType.GetType().GetProperties())
{
    Console.WriteLine(property.Name);
}

Since a static class cannot be instantiated (in this case, the class is InstanceType), the solution calls for a slightly different approach.

Practical Example

Populate a ComboBox with InstanceType constants:

// InstanceType is class with static properties
Type type = typeof(InstanceType); 
foreach (var instType in type.GetFields
(System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Static | System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Public))
{
    var typeName = instType.GetValue(null); // We can't pass static classes 
                                            // as objects into this, 
                                            // so null is passed instead
    ComboItem item = new ComboItem() 
    { Text = typeName.ToString(), Value = typeName.ToString() };
    TypeSelectorCombo.Items.Add(item);
}

   public class ComboItem 
    {
            public string Text { get; set; }
            public object Value { get; set; }
            public override string ToString()
            {
                return Text;
            }   
    }

Here, I have also made a class named ComboItem, just to make it easier to populate the ComboBox control in a Windows Forms project for instance.

And... that's about it. Not the diamond of tips, but it will most certainly save some campers a lot of agony.