Question

Is it possible to create a generic method with a signature like

public static string MyMethod<IMyTypeOfInterface>(object dataToPassToInterface)
{
    // an instance of IMyTypeOfInterface knows how to handle 
    // the data that is passed in
}

Would I have to create the Interface with (T)Activator.CreateInstance();?

Answer 1

If you want to create a new instance of some type implementing the interface and pass some data you could do something like this:

public static string MyMethod<T>(object dataToPassToInterface) where T : IMyTypeOfInterface, new()
{
    T instance = new T();
    return instance.HandleData(dataToPassToInterface);
}

and call it like this:

string s = MyMethod<ClassImplementingIMyTypeOfInterface>(data);