How To Get The Calling Method And Type

Here are a couple of useful methods for getting information about the caller of a method. The first returns the calling method of the current method. The second returns the type of the caller. Both of these methods require declaring the System.Diagnostics namespace.

private static MethodBase GetCallingMethod()
{
  return new StackFrame(2, false).GetMethod();
}

private static Type GetCallingType()
{
  return new StackFrame(2, false).GetMethod().DeclaringType;
}

Pop Quiz! Why didn’t I apply the principle of code re-use and implement the second method like so?

public static Type GetCallingType()
{
    return GetCallingMethod().DeclaringType;
}

A virtual cigar and the admiration of your peers to the first person to answer correctly.