Resolving Error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol __imp__time

I don't know if this is a generic situation or not, but it has been frustrating to resolve. The scenario is that I'm building some C/C++ FLEXnet components and was having no fun on getting the Release build to compile and link. After much fiddling, I was able to resolve everything down to one link error:

Error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol __imp__time

After comparing the differences between Debug and Release settings, I ended up stumbling upon the "Whole Program Optimization" setting (Project, Properties, Configuration Properties, General).

In my case, the default for the Release build was set to: Use Link Time Code Generation -- seems reasonable. What isn't reasonable is how it leads to the above linker error. I still have no idea why it causes it, but changing it to No Whole Program Optimization solved the issue.

Note: using Visual Studio 2008, SP1

Get Method or Property Name as String in .Net

There are a few occasions where it is helpful to have the string name of the executing method or property.

The cleanest way that I've been able to devise is to use the query the current stack frame using System.Diagnostics.StackFrame.

string methodName = new StackFrame().GetMethod().Name;

When called from within a property, the name includes the getter/setter prefix: get_ or set_. Therefore, if you want the actual property name, use the following:

string propertyName = new StackFrame().GetMethod().Name.Split('_')[1];