Type.GetType(enumName) fails - why?

[Axel Dahmen]

Hi,

I'd like to create a generic algorithm to analyse an enum's elements for
custom attributes. All I have at hand is is a type name to create an enum
type info from. But if I call Type.GetType(enumTypeName) it returns null or
throws an exception.

Can anyone enlighten me on how to walk through an unknown enums elements to
retrieve their custom attributes?

TIA,
Axel Dahmen

 

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

I'd like to create a generic algorithm to analyse an enum's elements for
custom attributes. All I have at hand is is a type name to create an enum
type info from. But if I call Type.GetType(enumTypeName) it returns null or
throws an exception.

Can anyone enlighten me on how to walk through an unknown enums elements to
retrieve their custom attributes?

Which assembly is the enum in? If you only specify the name,
Type.GetType will look in the current assembly and mscorlib, but that's
all.

 

[Axel Dahmen]

Hi Jon,

thanks for your reply! Indeed, like you said, I've just noticed that I can't
load *any* type from one of the other assemblies.

My current web site (ASP.NET 2.0) project uses .NETTIERS as ORM. I'd like to
walk through one of these type enums from the Entity assembly to determine
which columns to show in a GridView, using the TypeName I get from the
ObjectDataSource.

Your help is quite appreciated!

Regards,
www.axeldahmen.de
Axel Dahmen

 

[Morten Wennevik [C# MVP]]

Using the code below, triggering new ClassB(), t1 will be null while t2 will
contain a type. What would be the proper name for EnumA?

namespace Space
{
public class ClassA
{
public enum EnumA
{
ValA1,
ValA2,
}
}

public enum EnumB
{
ValB1,
ValB2,
}

public class ClassB
{
public ClassB()
{
Type t1 = Type.GetType("Space.ClassA.EnumA");
Type t2 = Type.GetType("Space.EnumB");
}
}
}

 

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

Using the code below, triggering new ClassB(), t1 will be null while t2 will
contain a type. What would be the proper name for EnumA?

Space.ClassA+EnumB

 

[Rene]

You can analyze the names given to the types, just check the values for
"nameA" and "nameB":

string nameA = typeof(ClassA.EnumA).FullName;
string nameB = typeof(EnumB).FullName;

Type t1 = Type.GetType(nameA);
Type t2 = Type.GetType(nameB);

Using the code below, triggering new ClassB(), t1 will be null while t2
will
contain a type. What would be the proper name for EnumA?

namespace Space
{
public class ClassA
{
public enum EnumA
{
ValA1,
ValA2,
}
}

public enum EnumB
{
ValB1,
ValB2,
}

public class ClassB
{
public ClassB()
{
Type t1 = Type.GetType("Space.ClassA.EnumA");
Type t2 = Type.GetType("Space.EnumB");
}
}
}

--
Happy Coding!
Morten Wennevik [C# MVP]

Which assembly is the enum in? If you only specify the name,
Type.GetType will look in the current assembly and mscorlib, but that's
all.