Simplest C# code to poll a property?

Question

I would like to know the simplest code for polling a property\'s value, to execute the code in its getter.
Currently I\'m using: instance.property.ToString();

Answer 1

(I'm assuming you're trying to avoid the warning you get from simply assigning the value to an unused variable.)

You could write a no-op extension method:

public static void NoOp(this T value)
{
    // Do nothing.
}

Then call:

instance.SomeProperty.NoOp();

That won't box the value or touch it at all - just call the getter. Another advantage of this over ToString is that this won't go bang if the value is a null reference.

It will require JIT compilation of the method once per value type, but that's a pretty small cost...