Extracting property name at compile time

Just an extract from this article. It’s something I always find VERY useful (in situations where speed is not one of our concerns, of course)

protected string ExtractPropertyName<T>(Expression<Func<T>> propertyExpression) {

if (propertyExpression == null) {

throw new ArgumentNullException("propertyExpression");

}

var memberExpression = propertyExpression.Body as MemberExpression;

if (memberExpression == null) {

throw new ArgumentException("The expression is not a member access expression.", "propertyExpression");

}

var property = memberExpression.Member as PropertyInfo;

if (property == null) {

        throw new ArgumentException("The member access expression does not access a property.", "propertyExpression");

}

if (!property.DeclaringType.IsAssignableFrom(this.GetType())) {

throw new ArgumentException("The referenced property belongs to a different type.", "propertyExpression");

}

var getMethod = property.GetGetMethod(true);

if (getMethod == null) {

// this shouldn't happen - the expression would reject the property before reaching this far

throw new ArgumentException("The referenced property does not have a get method.", "propertyExpression");

}

if (getMethod.IsStatic) {

throw new ArgumentException("The referenced property is a static property.", "propertyExpression");

}

return memberExpression.Member.Name;

}