Get property name and value only if there is a value

Question

I'm trying to simulate a .csv file with a list of property names as a header row followed by the actual list of properties for a list of items. Currently, I have it working, but now there is a need to only include the properties' header and value where the item has a value for that property anywhere in the list. This is what I have currently: public static string LeadsToCSVString(List leads) { StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(); PropertyInfo[] properties = typeof(Lead).GetProperties(); builder.AppendLine(string.Join(",", properties.Select(x => x.Name))); foreach (Lead lead in leads) { builder.AppendLine(string.Join(",", properties.Select(x => x.GetValue(lead)))); } return builder.ToString(); } Where Lead is: public class Lead { public string FirstName { get; set; } public string LastName { get; set; } public bool IsOk { get; set; } } The List isn't guaranteed to have a value for all property values and there can even be a case where there is no value for a property like below: FirstName,LastName,IsOK Joe,,false Adam,,true What needs to be done is to only have header values and row column values where the property has an actual value. If I take the above example list, the CSV string would look like: FirstName,IsOk Joe,false Adam,true How can I modify my code to do this? Some examples of what should happen if any object in the list has a value for the property: FirstName,LastName,IsOK Joe,Dirt, Adam,,true FirstName,LastName,IsOK ,Dirt, Adam,,true

41686d6564 · Accepted Answer

Assuming that "has a value" means that its value is not null (which only works for reference types and Nullable value types), you could just filter out the ones that don't have any values in the list:

var filteredProps = properties.Where(p => leads.Any(l => p.GetValue(l) != null));

..and then use filteredProps instead of properties:

public static string LeadsToCSVString(List<Lead> leads)
{
    StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
    PropertyInfo[] properties = typeof(Lead).GetProperties();

    var filteredProps = properties.Where(p => leads.Any(l => p.GetValue(l) != null));
    builder.AppendLine(string.Join(",", filteredProps.Select(x => x.Name)));

    foreach (Lead lead in leads)
    {
        builder.AppendLine(string.Join(",", filteredProps.Select(x => x.GetValue(lead))));
    }

    return builder.ToString();
}

Or to avoid calling GetValue() twice, you could create a dictionary (or a Lookup) of the properties and their values:

public static string LeadsToCSVString(List<Lead> leads)
{
    StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
    PropertyInfo[] properties = typeof(Lead).GetProperties();

    var propsDictionary =
        properties.ToDictionary(p => p, p => leads.Select(l => p.GetValue(l)).ToArray())
        .Where(pair => pair.Value.Any(o => o != null))
        .ToDictionary(pair => pair.Key, pair => pair.Value);

    builder.AppendLine(string.Join(",", propsDictionary.Keys.Select(x => x.Name)));

    foreach (Lead lead in leads)
    {
        builder.AppendLine(
            string.Join(",", propsDictionary.Keys.Select(x => x.GetValue(lead))));
    }

    return builder.ToString();
}

Get property name and value only if there is a value

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