Programmatic equivalent of default(Type)

Question

I\'m using reflection to loop through a Type\'s properties and set certain types to their default. Now, I could do a switch on the type and set the defau

Answer 1

Why do you say generics are out of the picture?

    public static object GetDefault(Type t)
    {
        Func<object> f = GetDefault<object>;
        return f.Method.GetGenericMethodDefinition().MakeGenericMethod(t).Invoke(null, null);
    }

    private static T GetDefault<T>()
    {
        return default(T);
    }

Answer 2

This is optimized Flem's solution:

using System.Collections.Concurrent;

namespace System
{
    public static class TypeExtension
    {
        //a thread-safe way to hold default instances created at run-time
        private static ConcurrentDictionary<Type, object> typeDefaults =
           new ConcurrentDictionary<Type, object>();

        public static object GetDefaultValue(this Type type)
        {
            return type.IsValueType
               ? typeDefaults.GetOrAdd(type, Activator.CreateInstance)
               : null;
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

Equivalent to Dror's answer but as an extension method:

namespace System
{
    public static class TypeExtensions
    {
        public static object Default(this Type type)
        {
            object output = null;

            if (type.IsValueType)
            {
                output = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
            }

            return output;
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

I do the same task like this.

//in MessageHeader 
   private void SetValuesDefault()
   {
        MessageHeader header = this;             
        Framework.ObjectPropertyHelper.SetPropertiesToDefault<MessageHeader>(this);
   }

//in ObjectPropertyHelper
   public static void SetPropertiesToDefault<T>(T obj) 
   {
            Type objectType = typeof(T);

            System.Reflection.PropertyInfo [] props = objectType.GetProperties();

            foreach (System.Reflection.PropertyInfo property in props)
            {
                if (property.CanWrite)
                {
                    string propertyName = property.Name;
                    Type propertyType = property.PropertyType;

                    object value = TypeHelper.DefaultForType(propertyType);
                    property.SetValue(obj, value, null);
                }
            }
    }

//in TypeHelper
    public static object DefaultForType(Type targetType)
    {
        return targetType.IsValueType ? Activator.CreateInstance(targetType) : null;
    }

Answer 5

You can use PropertyInfo.SetValue(obj, null). If called on a value type it will give you the default. This behavior is documented in .NET 4.0 and in .NET 4.5.

Answer 6

The chosen answer is a good answer, but be careful with the object returned.

string test = null;
string test2 = "";
if (test is string)
     Console.WriteLine("This will never be hit.");
if (test2 is string)
     Console.WriteLine("Always hit.");

Extrapolating...

string test = GetDefault(typeof(string));
if (test is string)
     Console.WriteLine("This will never be hit.");