Question

To cut a long story short I have a C# function that performs a task on a given Type that is passed in as an Object instance. All works fine when a class instance is passed in. However, when the object is declared as an interface I’d really like to find the concrete class and perform the action upon that class type.

Here is the ubiquitous bad example (resplendent with incorrect property casing etc):

public interface IA
{
    int a { get; set; }
}
public class B : IA
{
    public int a { get; set; }
    public int b { get; set; }
}
public class C : IA
{
    public int a { get; set; }
    public int c { get; set; }
}

// snip

IA myBObject = new B();
PerformAction(myBObject);

IA myCObject = new C();
PerformAction(myCObject);

// snip

void PerformAction(object myObject)
{
    Type objectType = myObject.GetType();   // Here is where I get typeof(IA)
    if ( objectType.IsInterface )
    {
        // I want to determine the actual Concrete Type, i.e. either B or C
        // objectType = DetermineConcreteType(objectType);
    }
    // snip - other actions on objectType
}

I’d like the code in PerformAction to use Reflection against it’s parameter and see that it’s not just an instance of IA but that it’s an instance of B and to see the property “b” via GetProperties(). If I use .GetType() I get the Type of IA – not what I want.

How can PerformAction determine the underlying Concrete Type of the instance of IA?

Some might be tempted to suggest using an Abstract class but that is just the limitation of my bad example. The variable will be originally declared as an interface instance.

Answer 1

Type objectType = myObject.GetType();

Should still give you the concrete type, according to your example.