Question

Using reflection, I’m attempting to find the set of types which inherit from a given base class. It didn’t take long to figure out for simple types, but I’m stumped when it comes to generics.

For this piece of code, the first IsAssignableFrom returns true, but the second returns false. And yet, the final assignment compiles just fine.

class class1 { }
class class2 : class1 { }
class generic1<T> { }
class generic2<T> : generic1<T> { }

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Type c1 = typeof(class1);
        Type c2 = typeof(class2);
        Console.WriteLine("c1.IsAssignableFrom(c2): {0}", c1.IsAssignableFrom(c2));

        Type g1 = typeof(generic1<>);
        Type g2 = typeof(generic2<>);
        Console.WriteLine("g1.IsAssignableFrom(g2): {0}", g1.IsAssignableFrom(g2));

        generic1<class1> cc = new generic2<class1>();
    }
}

So how do I determine at run time whether one generic type definition is derived from another?

Answer 1

From the answer to another question:

public static bool IsAssignableToGenericType(Type givenType, Type genericType)
{
    var interfaceTypes = givenType.GetInterfaces();

    foreach (var it in interfaceTypes)
    {
        if (it.IsGenericType && it.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == genericType)
            return true;
    }

    if (givenType.IsGenericType && givenType.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == genericType)
        return true;

    Type baseType = givenType.BaseType;
    if (baseType == null) return false;

    return IsAssignableToGenericType(baseType, genericType);
}