Get strongly typed attribute logical name for CRM Entity

szczepan

When using early bound entities, there’s a easy way to get CRM entity logical attribute name thanks to AttributeLogicalNameAttribute attribute in generated code. You can use this simple extension method:

        public static string GetEntityPropertyLogicalName<E, P>(this E src, Expression<Func<E, P>> expression)
        {
            var member = expression.Body as MemberExpression;
            if (member != null && member.Member is PropertyInfo)
            {
                var pi = member.Member as PropertyInfo;
                var pn = pi.Name;

                var epi = typeof(E).GetProperty(pn);
                var attr = (AttributeLogicalNameAttribute) epi.GetCustomAttribute(typeof(AttributeLogicalNameAttribute));

                if (attr == null)
                {
                    throw new System.ArgumentNullException(pn, "AttributeLogicalNameAttribute not found on property");
                }

                return attr.LogicalName;
            }

            throw new ArgumentException("Expression is not a Property");
        }

And usage is very simple:

            var account = new Account();
            var line1 = account.GetEntityPropertyLogicalName(p => p.Address1_Line1);

Now line1 should contain address1_line1 string.