.NET: Determine the type of “this” class in its static method

Question

Well, in a non-static method I could use this.GetType() and it would return the Type. How can I get the same Type in a static method? Of course, I can't just write typeof(ThisTypeName) because ThisTypeName is known only in the runtime. Thanks!

Answer 1

You can't use this in a static method, so that's not possible directly. However, if you need the type of some object, just call GetType on it and make the this instance a parameter that you have to pass, e.g.:

public class Car {
  public static void Drive(Car c) {
    Console.WriteLine("Driving a {0}", c.GetType());
  }
}

This seems like a poor design, though. Are you sure that you really need to get the type of the instance itself inside of its own static method? That seems a little bizarre. Why not just use an instance method?

public class Car {
  public void Drive() { // Remove parameter; doesn't need to be static.
    Console.WriteLine("Driving a {0}", this.GetType());
  }
}

Answer 2

If you're looking for a 1 liner that is equivalent to this.GetType() for static methods, try the following.

Type t = MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType

Although this is likely much more expensive than just using typeof(TheTypeName).

Answer 3

When your member is static, you will always know what type it is part of at runtime. In this case:

class A
{
  public static int GetInt(){}

}
class B : A {}

You cannot call (edit: apparently, you can, see comment below, but you would still be calling into A):

B.GetInt();

because the member is static, it does not play part in inheritance scenarios. Ergo, you always know that the type is A.

Answer 4

I don't understand why you cannot use typeof(ThisTypeName). If this is a non-generic type, then this should work:

class Foo {
   static void Method1 () {
      Type t = typeof (Foo); // Can just hard code this
   }
}

If it's a generic type, then:

class Foo<T> {
    static void Method1 () {
       Type t = typeof (Foo<T>);
    }
}

Am I missing something obvious here?

Answer 5

There's something that the other answers haven't quite clarified, and which is relevant to your idea of the type only being available at execution time.

If you use a derived type to execute a static member, the real type name is emitted in the binary. So for example, compile this code:

UnicodeEncoding.GetEncoding(0);

Now use ildasm on it... you'll see that the call is emitted like this:

IL_0002: call class [mscorlib]System.Text.Encoding [mscorlib]System.Text.Encoding::GetEncoding(int32)

The compiler has resolved the call to Encoding.GetEncoding - there's no trace of UnicodeEncoding left. That makes your idea of "the current type" nonsensical, I'm afraid.

Answer 6

This is easier... we dont need to expecify the name of class. For instance, I used in toString () method of the parent class... so the each child return his name instead of fixed name of the parent class.

this.GetType().Name