How to dynamically get the value of an AssemblyCustomAttribute with a VB.NET application?

Question

I want to create a helper function, that takes a AssemblyCustomAttribute type and returns the property value as string.

Here is the function code:

Public Shared Function GetAssemblyAttribute(tAttribute As Type, Optional bFirstResult As Boolean = True) As String
    Dim sRetVal As String = String.Empty

    Dim objAssembly As Assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()
    Dim objAttributes As Object() = objAssembly.GetCustomAttributes(True)
    For Each objAttribute In objAttributes
        If objAttribute.GetType().Equals(tAttribute) Then
            sRetVal = objAttribute.Configuration
            If bFirstResult Then
                Exit For
            End If
        End If
    Next

    Return sRetVal
End Function

Is there any possiblity, that I can identify the primary property of the AssemblyCustomAttribute and return it as a string while option strict is on (no late bindings)?

The code above has the flaw, that it currently only supports the AssemblyConfigurationAttribute.

The second issue is that it has to work with .NET Framework 2.0. That is why there is not OfType<> call, because it does not exists with 2.0.

For reference, I want to get the following attributes from AssemblyInfo.vb

<Assembly: AssemblyConfiguration("Debug")>
<Assembly: AssemblyInformationalVersion("1.0.0")>

with the following function calls:

Me.lblAppVersion.Text = String.Format(
    "Version {0} ({1})",
    Helper.GetAssemblyAttribute((New System.Reflection.AssemblyConfigurationAttribute("")).GetType()),
    Helper.GetAssemblyAttribute((New System.Reflection.AssemblyInformationalVersionAttribute("")).GetType())
)
' Returns: "Version 1.0.0 (Debug)"

How to modify the function, so it will automatically detect the primary property , or to use a supplied string parameter as the property name?

Answer 1

I found a quick and dirty solution. However, I would like to see any other possible better solution.

Public Shared Function GetAssemblyAttribute(tAttribute As Type, Optional bFirstResult As Boolean = True) As String
    Dim sRetVal As String = String.Empty
    Dim objAssembly As Assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()
    Dim objAttributes As Object() = objAssembly.GetCustomAttributes(True)
    For Each objAttribute In objAttributes
        If objAttribute.GetType().Equals(tAttribute) Then
            For Each objProperty In objAttribute.GetType().GetProperties()
                If objProperty.Name <> "TypeId" Then
                    sRetVal = objProperty.GetValue(objAttribute, Nothing)
                    If bFirstResult Then
                        Exit For
                    End If

                End If
            Next
        End If
    Next
    Return sRetVal
End Function