Everybody knows that reflection is slow but I wanted something more measurable than slow so I did some performance tests for the basic things I do with reflection.
The test cases are:
• Create an object• Call a method with 2 parameters• Set 4 properties of an object
I implemented each test case with and without reflection so I could compare the results. For the tests I used the Product and ProductDAL classes from my ObjectDataSource tutorial, with the only modification of a new method to the ProductDAL class. Each test case was repeated one million times to get more accurate values. The tests were ran on an AMD 3200 with 1 GB of RAM. The source code for the tests can be found at the end of this post.
The results obtained were:
Creating an object -> 6 times slower using reflectionCalling a method -> 143 times slower using reflectionSetting properties -> 14 times slower using reflection
The full output that the test program generated was:
ConstructorTime ellapsed: Interval: 0,074104 seconds (265260 ticks)
Constructor using reflectionTime ellapsed: Interval: 0,449345 seconds (1608451 ticks)
Method callTime ellapsed: Interval: 0,025408 seconds (90948 ticks)
Method call using reflectionTime ellapsed: Interval: 3,631799 seconds (13000186 ticks)
Setting propertiesTime ellapsed: Interval: 1,562256 seconds (5592166 ticks)
Setting properties using reflectionTime ellapsed: Interval: 22,492780 seconds (80513936 ticks)
Here’s the code for the tests:
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Specialized;
using System.Globalization;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Reflection;
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
class Program
delegate void MethodToEvaluate(object[] parameters);
static void Main(string[] args)
long times = 1000000;
// creates the parameter needed for the tests
IDictionary paramAndValues = new OrderedDictionary();
paramAndValues.Add("id", "1");
paramAndValues.Add("name", "product name");
paramAndValues.Add("description", "product description");
paramAndValues.Add("price", "100");
object[] parameters = new object[]{ new Product(), paramAndValues };
// launch the test cases
EvaluateMethod("Constructor", ConstructorTest, null, times);
EvaluateMethod("Constructor using reflection", ConstructorTestReflection, null, times);
EvaluateMethod("Method call", MethodCall, null, times);
EvaluateMethod("Method call using reflection", MethodCallReflection, null, times);
EvaluateMethod("Setting properties", SetProperties, parameters, times);
EvaluateMethod("Setting properties using reflection", SetPropertiesReflection, parameters, times);
Console.ReadLine();
}
// evaluates a method the specified number of times and print performance information
static void EvaluateMethod(string testName, MethodToEvaluate method, object[] parameters, long times)
Console.WriteLine(testName);
IntervalTimer timer = new IntervalTimer();
timer.Start();
for (long i = 0; i < times; i++) {
method(parameters);
timer.Stop();
Console.WriteLine("Time ellapsed: " + timer.ToString() + "\n");
static void ConstructorTest(object[] parameters)
Product prod = new Product();
static void ConstructorTestReflection(object[] parameters)
Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(Product));
static void MethodCall(object[] parameters)
ProductsDAL.TestMethod(0, "test");
static void MethodCallReflection(object[] parameters)
MethodInfo method = typeof(ProductsDAL).GetMethod("TestMethod", BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Static);
object[] paramValues = new object[]{ 0, "test" };
method.Invoke(null, paramValues);
static void SetProperties(object[] parameters)
Product prod = (Product)parameters[0];
IDictionary values = (IDictionary)parameters[1];
prod.Id = Convert.ToInt32(values["id"]);
prod.Name = (string)values["name"];
prod.Description = (string)values["description"];
prod.Price = Convert.ToDecimal(values["price"]);
static void SetPropertiesReflection(object[] parameters)
SetProperty(prod, "Id", values["Id"]);
SetProperty(prod, "Name", values["name"]);
SetProperty(prod, "Description", values["description"]);
SetProperty(prod, "Price", values["price"]);
#region Helper Methods
static void SetProperty(object obj, string name, object value)
// searchs for the property
PropertyInfo prop = typeof(Product).GetProperty(name);
// try to convert a string value to an object (using the type converter)
object propertyValue = BuildObjectValue(value, prop.PropertyType);
// sets the property value
prop.SetValue(obj, propertyValue, null);
static object BuildObjectValue(object value, Type destinationType)
// if we have a value that needs conversion
if ((value != null) && !destinationType.IsInstanceOfType(value)) {
Type targetType = destinationType;
// if the value is a string, try to convert it to the target type
if (value is string) {
value = ConvertStringToType((string)value, targetType);
return value;
static object ConvertStringToType(string value, Type destinationType)
object result = null;
// try to get a type converter
TypeConverter converter = TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(destinationType);
if (converter == null) {
// try to convert the string using the type converter
result = converter.ConvertFromString(null, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, value);
return result;
#endregion
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