Question

For example in a .NET app.config you might get

<configuration>
   <configSections>
      <section name="MyConfig" type="MyAssembly.MyType, MyAssembly, PublicKeyToken=null" />
   </configSections>
   ...
</configuration>

The signature in the type part seems to be standardized in a variety of .NET places but I have no idea how to do this within my own programs. I have used System.Activator in my programs but that feels like I’m duplicating work that .NET already does.

In programming terms how do I do this:

void Main()
{
   object instance = CreateInstance("MyAssembly.MyType, MyAssembly, PublicKeyToken=null");
   Console.WriteLine(instance.GetType().Name);
}

object CreateInstance(string dotNetTypeSignature)
{
   // Code goes here.
}

Answer 1

You can call the Type.GetType method to get a Type object with the given (assembly-qualified) name.

You can call the Activator.CreateInstance method to create an instance of a type. (assuming that the type has a public default constructor, or that you know what constructor arguments it takes).

For example:

Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetType(name));