Get element type of generic list

[Taurin]

I have a method that I would like to be able to pass a generic list
(such as List<string>, List<int>, etc). I'm trying to figure out what
would be the best type of parameter to use to pass in the list and if
there is a way to find out what type of elements it is designed to
contain (even if it currently has no elements). How would I go about
doing this?

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

Taurin <ta*******@gmai l.comwrote:

I have a method that I would like to be able to pass a generic list
(such as List<string>, List<int>, etc). I'm trying to figure out what
would be the best type of parameter to use to pass in the list and if
there is a way to find out what type of elements it is designed to
contain (even if it currently has no elements). How would I go about
doing this?

public void Foo<T>(List<Tli st)
{
Console.WriteLi ne("T = {0}", typeof(T));
}

In other words, you can find out at execution time with "typeof".

--
Jon Skeet - <sk***@pobox.co m>
Web site: http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/jon.skeet
C# in Depth: http://csharpindepth.com

[Marc Gravell]

Well, if you want to be able to pass a generic list, then I guess you
are talking about a generic method - i.e.

public void SomeMethod<T>(I List<Tlist) {...}

In which case, the answer is typeof(T). If you mean just "a
list" (IList, not IList<T>), then a lot of the standard framework code
is based around inspected the int-indexer. For example, the code below
resolves that the list is a string-list. In the absense of a non-
object int-indexer (i.e. no indexer, or it is just typed as object),
the framework code takes the first (zeroth) element.

There is one other special case worth mentioning; the data-binding
code also respects ITypedList, which tells you about properties of the
list items - this mainly applies to flexible runtime things like
DataTableView.

Marc

using System;
using System.Collecti ons;
using System.Collecti ons.Generic;
using System.Reflecti on;
static class Program
{
static void Main()
{
IList list = new List<string>();
PropertyInfo prop =
list.GetType(). GetProperty("It em", new Type[]
{ typeof(int) });
if (prop != null)
{
Console.WriteLi ne(prop.Propert yType.Name);
}
}
}

[Taurin]

Thanks Jon that is EXACTLY what I needed. You're a big help and
quick.

public void Foo<T>(List<Tli st)
{
Console.WriteLi ne("T = {0}", typeof(T));

}