C# - GetType Method - Dot Net Perls

GetType. This is a C# method on object. It provides a Type object. This object indicates the most derived type of the object instance.

Type

object

Returned value. GetType in .NET accesses the actual type of the object instance. It does not report the base types or the variable type.

Example program. This program uses the GetType method on a base type reference to more derived objects. We instantiate 3 classes—A, B and C—in Main.

class

new

Constructor

Info The class A is used as base class. The class B derives from class A. And the class C derives from class B.

base

Detail This executes and creates an instance of each class, but stores the references in the A type variables.

Next The GetType method returns the most derived type of the instances, not the type of the variable.

using System;

class A
{
}

class B : A
{
}

class C : B
{
}

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        A a1 = new A();
        A a2 = new B();
        A a3 = new C();

        Console.WriteLine(a1.GetType());
        Console.WriteLine(a2.GetType());
        Console.WriteLine(a3.GetType());
    }
}A
B
C

A summary. We demonstrated the GetType method when used with derived and base classes. This C# method returns the most-derived class—it does not return base classes.

Reflection

Dot Net Perls is a collection of pages with code examples, which are updated to stay current. Programming is an art, and it can be learned from examples.

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This page was last updated on May 24, 2022 (image).

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