C# in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Name

Type

Synopsis

Type is an abstract base class that encapsulates the metadata for any .NET type. You can get a Type object by using the System.Object.GetType( ) method, which is inherited by all .NET types, or by the typeof operator in C#.

The Type is used most often for reflection. You can get a complete description of an object’s metadata, including information about the constructors, methods, fields, properties, and events of a class, as well as the module and the assembly in which the class is deployed by using it. Do this by using the supplied Get methods, such as GetEvents( ) and GetConstructors( ), which return arrays of the appropriate System.Reflection class. You can also use the singular methods, such as GetEvent( ), to retrieve a single type object that matches specific criteria. Note that all members can be retrieved, including inherited, private, and protected members.

public abstract class Type : System.Reflection.MemberInfo, System.Reflection.IReflect {
// Protected Constructors
   protected Type( );
// Public Static Fields
   public static readonly char Delimiter;
// =0x0000002E
   public static readonly Type[ ] EmptyTypes; 
// =System.Type[ ]
   public static readonly MemberFilter FilterAttribute; 
// =System.Reflection.MemberFilter
   public static readonly MemberFilter FilterName;
// =System.Reflection.MemberFilter
   public static readonly MemberFilter FilterNameIgnoreCase;     
// =System.Reflection.MemberFilter
   public static readonly object Missing;
// =System.Reflection.Missing ...