Getting a System.Type from type's partial name

Question

I want to get a System.Type given only the type name in a string.

For instance, if I have an object:

MyClass abc = new MyCl         


        

Answer 1

It depends on which assembly the class is. If it's in mscorlib or calling assembly all you need is

Type type = Type.GetType("namespace.class");

But if it's referenced from some other assembly, you would need to do:

Assembly assembly = typeof(SomeKnownTypeInAssembly).Assembly;
Type type = assembly.GetType("namespace.class");

//or

Type type = Type.GetType("namespace.class, assembly");

---

If you only have the class name "MyClass", then you have to somehow get the namespace name (or both namespace name and assembly name in case it's a referenced assembly) and concat that along with the class name. Something like:

//if class is in same assembly
var namespace = typeof(SomeKnownTypeInNamespace).Namespace;
Type type = Type.GetType(namespace + "." + "MyClass");


//or for cases of referenced classes
var assembly = typeof(SomeKnownTypeInAssembly).Assembly;
var namespace = typeof(SomeKnownTypeInNamespace).Namespace;
Type type = assembly.GetType(namespace + "." + "MyClass");
//or
Type type = Type.GetType(namespace + "." + "MyClass" + ", " + assembly.GetName().Name);

---

If you have absolutely nothing (no preawareness of even assembly name or namespace name) but just the class name, then you can query the entire assemblies to select a matching string. But that should be a lot slower:

Type type = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies()
                                   .SelectMany(x => x.GetTypes())
                                   .FirstOrDefault(x => x.Name == "MyClass");

Note that this returns the first matching class, so need not be very accurate if you would have multiple classes with same name across assemblies/namespaces. In any case caching the values makes sense here. Slightly faster way is to assume there is one default namespace:

Type type = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies()
                                   .Select(a => new { a, a.GetTypes().First().Namespace })
                                   .Select(x => x.a.GetType(x.Namespace + "." + "MyClass"))
                                   .FirstOrDefault(x => x != null);

But that's again an assumption that your type will have the same namespace as some other random class in the assembly; too brittle, not very good.

---

If you want classes of other domains you can get a list of all application domains, following this link. You can then do the same querying as shown above for each domain. If your assembly where the type resides isn't loaded yet, then you have to manually load it using Assembly.Load, Assembly.LoadFrom etc.

Answer 2

Another way to get the type from current or another assebly.

(Assumes that the class namespace contains its assembly):

---

public static Type GetType(string fullName)
{
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fullName))
        return null;
    Type type = Type.GetType(fullName);
    if (type == null)
    {
        string targetAssembly = fullName;
        while (type == null && targetAssembly.Length > 0)
        {
            try
            {
                int dotInd = targetAssembly.LastIndexOf('.');
                targetAssembly = dotInd >= 0 ? targetAssembly.Substring(0, dotInd) : "";
                if (targetAssembly.Length > 0)
                    type = Type.GetType(fullName + ", " + targetAssembly);
            }
            catch { }
        }
    }
    return type;
}

Answer 3

Type type = Type.GetType("MyClass");

Make sure to include the namespace. There are overloads of the method that control case-sensitivity and whether an exception is thrown if the type name isn't found.

Answer 4

To create an instance of your class after you get the type, and invoke a method -

Type type = Type.GetType("foo.bar.MyClass, foo.bar");
object instanceObject = System.Reflection.Activator.CreateInstance(type);
type.InvokeMember(method, BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null, instanceObject, new object[0]);

Answer 5

Type type = Type.GetType("foo.bar.MyClass, foo.bar");

MSDN. Make sure the name is Assembly Qualified.

Answer 6

Here is a simple method for creating and initializing a new object from its name and parameters:

    //  Creates and initializes a new object from its name and parameters
    public Object CreateObjectByName(string name, params Object[] args)
    {
        string s = "<prefix>" + name;    // case sensitive; Type.FullName
        Type type = Type.GetType(s);
        Object o = System.Activator.CreateInstance(type, args);
        return o;
    }

One example of how one might use this is to read a file containing class names [or partial class names] and parameters and then add the objects returned to a list of objects of a base type that is common to the objects created.

To see what your class name [or ] should look like, temporarily use something like this [if your class is named NewClass]:

    string z = (new NewClass(args)).GetType().FullName;