.net - How to access the Description attribute on either a property or a const in C#?

Question

How do you access the Description property on either a const or a property, i.e.,

public static class Group
{

    [Description( "Specified parent-child relationship already exists." )]
    public const int ParentChildRelationshipExists = 1;

    [Description( "User is already a member of the group." )]
    public const int UserExistsInGroup = 2;

}

or

public static class Group
{

    [Description( "Specified parent-child relationship already exists." )]
    public static int ParentChildRelationshipExists { 
      get { return 1; } 
    }

    [Description( "User is already a member of the group." )]
    public static int UserExistsInGroup { 
      get { return 2; } 
    }

}

In the calling class I'd like to access the Description property, i.e.,

int x = Group.UserExistsInGroup;
string description = Group.UserExistsInGroup.GetDescription(); // or similar

I'm open to ideas to other methodologies as well.

EDIT: I should have mentioned that I've seen an example provided here: Do auto-implemented properties support attributes?

However, I'm looking for a method to access the description attribute without having to enter a string literal into the property type, i.e., I'd rather not do this:

typeof(Group).GetProperty("UserExistsInGroup");

Something along the lines of an Extension Method; similar to the following method that will return the Description attribute on an Enum via an Extension Method:

public static String GetEnumDescription( this Enum obj )
{
    try
    {
        System.Reflection.FieldInfo fieldInfo = 
            obj.GetType().GetField( obj.ToString() );

        object[] attribArray = fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes( false );

        if (attribArray.Length > 0)
        {
            var attrib = attribArray[0] as DescriptionAttribute;

            if( attrib != null  )
                return attrib.Description;
        }
        return obj.ToString();
    }
    catch( NullReferenceException ex )
    {
        return "Unknown";
    }
}

Answer 1

Try the following

var property = typeof(Group).GetProperty("UserExistsInGroup");
var attribute = property.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), true)[0];
var description = (DescriptionAttribute)attribute;
var text = description.Description;