c# - Comparing Object properties using reflection

Question

I have two classes Address and Employee as follows:

 public class Address
{
    public string AddressLine1 { get; set; }
    public string AddressLine2 { get; set; }
    public string City { get; set; }
    public string State { get; set; }
    public string Zip { get; set; }
}

   public class Employee
    {
        public string FirstName { get; set; }
        public string MiddleName { get; set; }
        public string LastName { get; set; }
        public Address EmployeeAddress { get; set; }
    }

I have two employee instances as follows:

    var emp1Address = new Address();
    emp1Address.AddressLine1 = "Microsoft Corporation";
    emp1Address.AddressLine2 = "One Microsoft Way";
    emp1Address.City = "Redmond";
    emp1Address.State = "WA";
    emp1Address.Zip = "98052-6399";

    var emp1 = new Employee();
    emp1.FirstName = "Bill";
    emp1.LastName = "Gates";
    emp1.EmployeeAddress = emp1Address;


    var emp2Address = new Address();
    emp2Address.AddressLine1 = "Gates Foundation";
    emp2Address.AddressLine2 = "One Microsoft Way";
    emp2Address.City = "Redmond";
    emp2Address.State = "WA";
    emp2Address.Zip = "98052-6399";

    var emp2 = new Employee();
    emp2.FirstName = "Melinda";
    emp2.LastName = "Gates";
    emp2.EmployeeAddress = emp2Address;

Now how can I write a method which compares these two employees and returns the list of properties which have different values. So in this example I would like the result to be FirstName and Address.AddressLine1 .

Answer 1

Like LBushskin said, you do not have to do this. This is not the fastest way! Buy if you want, try this:

    public static List<PropertyInfo> GetDifferences(Employee test1, Employee test2)
    {
        List<PropertyInfo> differences = new List<PropertyInfo>();
        foreach (PropertyInfo property in test1.GetType().GetProperties())
        {
            object value1 = property.GetValue(test1, null);
            object value2 = property.GetValue(test2, null);
            if (!value1.Equals(value2))
            {
                differences.Add(property);
            }
        }
        return differences;
    }