Example. First, the Type class is found in the System namespace in the .NET Framework base class library. You can use Type variables in the same way as other variables such as string or int.
Note: You can assign Type variables to the result of a typeof expression. And methods receive a Type parameter as an argument.
Here: A Type is returned by the typeof operator and the GetType method. We call method on the Type.
typeofGetTypeProgram: This shows that you can use Type variables and assign them to the result of evaluations of the typeof operator.
Tip: The Type variables are loaded onto the evaluation stack in the same way as other variables are.
C# program that uses Type variables
using System;
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
// Use type variables.
// ... Then pass the variables as an argument.
Type type1 = typeof(string[]);
Type type2 = "string".GetType();
Type type3 = typeof(Type);
Test(type1);
Test(type2);
Test(type3);
}
static void Test(Type type)
{
// Print some properties of the Type formal parameter.
Console.WriteLine("IsArray: {0}", type.IsArray);
Console.WriteLine("Name: {0}", type.Name);
Console.WriteLine("IsSealed: {0}", type.IsSealed);
Console.WriteLine("BaseType.Name: {0}", type.BaseType.Name);
Console.WriteLine();
}
}
Output
IsArray: True
Name: String[]
IsSealed: True
BaseType.Name: Array
IsArray: False
Name: String
IsSealed: True
BaseType.Name: Object
IsArray: False
Name: Type
IsSealed: False
BaseType.Name: MemberInfo
Metadata. In the C# language, the Type class is not actually used in the inheritance and class-based system. Instead, classes inherit from the Object type. The "Type" type is a representation of the metadata, which is data about the program.
Therefore: The Type class can be seen as a sort of information about the program, but not the program itself.