Question

I’m trying to unit test some code which utilises a library which has a dependency hidden internally via the ‘internal’ class modifier.

During the setup of the tests I would like to be able to create an instance of the internal class. Normally I would try something like:

var type = typeof (FooBar);
var parameterlessCtor = (from c in type.GetConstructors(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance)
                        where c.GetParameters().Length == 0 select c).FirstOrDefault();

object instance;
if(parameterlessCtor != null)
{
    instance = parameterlessCtor.Invoke(null);
}

The obvious problem with this is ‘typeof(FooBar)’ – I can’t do typeof on an internal type.

Any ideas if I can get round this anyway?

Oh and I can’t rebuild the assembly with internally visible attribute…

Answer 1

No but you can retrieve the type from its full name using GetType

var type = Type.GetType("YourNameSpace.Foobar, YourNameSpace, Version=x.Y.Z.K, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=xyz");