C# Reflection: Fastest Way to Update a Property Value?

Question

Is this the fastest way to update a property using reflection? Assume the property is always an int:

PropertyInfo counterPropertyInfo = GetProperty();
int va         


        

Answer 1

You should look at FastMember (nuget, source code], it's really fast comparing to reflection.

I've tested these 3 implementations:

• PropertyInfo.SetValue
• PropertyInfo.SetMethod
• FastMember

The benchmark needs a benchmark function:

static long Benchmark(Action action, int iterationCount, bool print = true)
{
    GC.Collect();
    var sw = new Stopwatch();
    action(); // Execute once before

    sw.Start();
    for (var i = 0; i <= iterationCount; i++)
    {
        action();
    }

    sw.Stop();
    if (print) System.Console.WriteLine("Elapsed: {0}ms", sw.ElapsedMilliseconds);
    return sw.ElapsedMilliseconds;
}

A fake class:

public class ClassA
{
    public string PropertyA { get; set; }
}

Some test methods:

private static void Set(string propertyName, string value)
{
    var obj = new ClassA();
    obj.PropertyA = value;
}

private static void FastMember(string propertyName, string value)
{
    var obj = new ClassA();
    var type = obj.GetType();
    var accessors = TypeAccessor.Create(type);
    accessors[obj, "PropertyA"] = "PropertyValue";
}

private static void SetValue(string propertyName, string value)
{
    var obj = new ClassA();
    var propertyInfo = obj.GetType().GetProperty(propertyName);
    propertyInfo.SetValue(obj, value);
}

private static void SetMethodInvoke(string propertyName, string value)
{
    var obj = new ClassA();
    var propertyInfo = obj.GetType().GetProperty(propertyName);
    propertyInfo.SetMethod.Invoke(obj, new object[] { value });
}

The script itself:

var iterationCount = 100000;
var propertyName = "PropertyA";
var value = "PropertyValue";

Benchmark(() => Set(propertyName, value), iterationCount);
Benchmark(() => FastMember(propertyName, value), iterationCount);
Benchmark(() => SetValue(propertyName, value), iterationCount);
Benchmark(() => SetMethodInvoke(propertyName, value), iterationCount);

Results for 100 000 iterations:

Default setter : 3ms

FastMember: 36ms

PropertyInfo.SetValue: 109ms

PropertyInfo.SetMethod: 91ms

Now you can choose yours !!!