Question

I have a method

public void Insert<T>(T o) where T : class
{
            c.Set<T>().Add(o);
}

I need to use it with an object type

object x = ....

r.Insert(x);

but since it’s an object T == object, but I need it to be the x.GetType() type

anybody knows how to do this ?

Answer 1

You’d basically have to call it via reflection (e.g. using MethodInfo.MakeGenericMethod). Generics is about providing compile-time type safety, whereas you don’t know the type at compile time. Alternatively you can use dynamic typing if you’re on C# 4.

Using reflection is a pain in terms of:

• Lack of type safety at compile time, so errors can only be detected in tests (or in production!)
• Performance
• Ease of coding

If you’re using C# 4, the dynamic typing solution would be:

dynamic d = x;
r.Insert(d);