Modding:Modder Guide/APIs/Reflection

Creating SMAPI mods

---

• Get started
• Game fundamentals
• Test & troubleshoot
• Release
• API reference

  Basic SMAPI APIs:

  • Mod structure
  • Manifest
  • Events
  • Configuration
  • Load & edit content
  • Data
  • Input
  • Logging
  • Reflection
  • Multiplayer
  • Translation
  • Update checks
  • Utilities

  Advanced SMAPI APIs:

  • Content packs
  • Mod console commands
  • Mod integrations
  • Harmony patching

• Specific guides

← Modding:Index

Reflection

SMAPI provides an API for robustly accessing fields, properties, or methods you otherwise couldn't access, such as private fields. You can use it from helper.Reflection in your entry method, or this.Helper.Reflection elsewhere in your entry class.

Here are a few examples of what this lets you do:

// did you pet your pet today?
bool wasPet = this.Helper.Reflection.GetField<bool>(pet, "wasPetToday").GetValue();

// what is the spirit forecast today?
string forecast = this.Helper.Reflection
   .GetMethod(new TV(), "getFortuneForecast")
   .Invoke<string>();

// randomise the mines
if(Game1.currentLocation is MineShaft)
   this.Helper.Reflection.GetField<Random>(Game1.currentLocation, "mineRandom").SetValue(new Random());

This works with static or instance fields/methods, caches the reflection to improve performance, and will throw useful errors automatically when reflection fails.

If you need to do more, you can switch to C#'s underlying reflection API:

FieldInfo field = this.Helper.Reflection.GetField<string>(…).FieldInfo;
MethodInfo method = this.Helper.Reflection.GetMethod(…).MethodInfo;