C# Reflection Issue

Question

I've got an issue when using reflection.

I have a class ETSetting that contains two objects: A current value and a 'default' value. Whenever the method SetToDefault is called, I want to set the current value to the default value.

Here is my function:

public void SetToDefault() {
            foreach (FieldInfo fi in Value.GetType().GetFields(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance)) {
                fi.SetValue(Value, fi.GetValue(defaultVal));
            }
        }

However, when I call that... All sorts of issues occur. I can't say for sure but it's as if I'm reading parts of the memory that I shouldn't be (for example, when Value and defaultVal are both strings, I get all sorts of bad characters like \t, \n, and chinese characters).

Evidently I'm doing something I shouldn't... But what?

Thanks.

Edit: Here is the ETSetting class in total:

public sealed class ETSetting {
        public object Value;
        private object defaultVal;

        public ETSetting(object defaultVal) {
            Value = this.defaultVal = defaultVal;
        }

        public void SetToDefault() {
            foreach (FieldInfo fi in Value.GetType().GetFields(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance)) {
                fi.SetValue(Value, fi.GetValue(defaultVal));
            }
        }
    }

Answer 1

What you want is a copy of an object that represents the default value. You can use serialization for this, or have your objects support ICloneable, for example:

public sealed class ETSetting<T> where T : ICloneable {
  public T Value;
  private T defaultVal;

  public ETSetting(T defaultVal) {
    this.defaultVal = defaultVal;
    SetToDefault();
  }

  public void SetToDefault() {
    Value = (T)defaultVal.Clone();
  }
}