How to create a new object instance from a Type

Question

One may not always know the Type of an object at compile-time, but may need to create an instance of the Type.

How do you get a new objec

Answer 1

I can across this question because I was looking to implement a simple CloneObject method for arbitrary class (with a default constructor)

With generic method you can require that the type implements New().

Public Function CloneObject(Of T As New)(ByVal src As T) As T
    Dim result As T = Nothing
    Dim cloneable = TryCast(src, ICloneable)
    If cloneable IsNot Nothing Then
        result = cloneable.Clone()
    Else
        result = New T
        CopySimpleProperties(src, result, Nothing, "clone")
    End If
    Return result
End Function

With non-generic assume the type has a default constructor and catch an exception if it doesn't.

Public Function CloneObject(ByVal src As Object) As Object
    Dim result As Object = Nothing
    Dim cloneable As ICloneable
    Try
        cloneable = TryCast(src, ICloneable)
        If cloneable IsNot Nothing Then
            result = cloneable.Clone()
        Else
            result = Activator.CreateInstance(src.GetType())
            CopySimpleProperties(src, result, Nothing, "clone")
        End If
    Catch ex As Exception
        Trace.WriteLine("!!! CloneObject(): " & ex.Message)
    End Try
    Return result
End Function