How do I create an F# Type Provider that can be used from C#?

Question

If I use the F# Type Providers from the assembly FSharp.Data.TypeProviders 4.3.0.0, I am able to create types in a very simple F# library. I am then able to use those types

Answer 1

The reason why standard type providers (for OData, LINQ to SQL and WSDL) work with C# is that they generate real .NET types behind the cover. This is called generative type provider. In fact, they simply call the code generation tool that would be called if you were using these technologies from C# in a standard way. So, these type providers are just wrappers over some standard .NET tools.

Most of the providers that are newly written are written as erasing type providers. This means that they only generate "fake" types that tell the F# compiler what members can be called (etc.) but when the compiler compiles them, the "fake" types are replaced with some other code. This is the reason why you cannot see any types when you're using the library from C# - none of the types actually exist in the compiled code.

Unless you're wrapping existing code-generator, it is easier to write erased type provider and so most of the examples are written in this way. Erasing type providers have other beneftis - i.e. they can generate huge number of "fake" types without generating excessively big assemblies.

Anyway, there is a brief note "Providing Generated Types" in the MSDN tutorial, which has some hints on writing generative providers. However, I'd expect most of the new F# type providers to be written as erasing. It notes that you must have a real .NET assembly (with the generated types) and getting that is not simplified by the F# helpers for building type providers - so you'll need to emit the IL for the assembly or generate C#/F# code and compile that (i.e. using CodeDOM or Roslyn).