Convert generic type definition strings from C# style to CLR style

Question

I want to convert a C# style generic type string, like

"System.Dictionary<System.String, System.String>"

to it's CLR equivalent:

"System.Dictionary`1[System.String, System.String]"

and back. Is there an easy way to do this, or do I have to resort to string manipulation?

EDIT: I only have the string representation in C#/VB/etc style form. I don't have a Type object or something similar at hand. An alternate question would have been: how to get a Type object from a string representation like "System.Dictionary<System.String, System.String>" (after that I can get the full name of the type object)

EDIT2: justification: I'm creating objects dinamically using CodeDom. The input from which I'm generating the CodeDom might contain types in C# (or any other proprietary like VB.NET) format, but I have to use them inside a CodeTypeReference, which only accepts the CLR style format.

Answer 1

typeof(System.Dictionary<System.String>, System.String>).FullName

As for the reverse, no clue :(

Answer 2

I am not sure I completely understand your question. Anyway -when you instantiate a genetic class Class<T1, ... ,Tn> the defined in namespace Namespace, for example

Namespace.Class<T1, ... ,Tn> a = new Namespace.Class<Type1,...,Typen>();

a.GetType().FullName will give you the full string representation of the class which will be "Namespace.Class'n<Type1,...,Typen>"

Answer 3

typeof(System.Dictionary<System.String, System.String>).FullName should get you something like:

System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[[System.String, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089],[System.String, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]]

Might need to do some replacement on the full type names inside the type parameter spec. However if you use the below code

typeof(Dictionary<System.String, System.String>).ToString()

You will get something like this:

System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.String]

To convert back into a Type use

Type.GetType("System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.String]");

EDIT I've tried hacking this with dynamic expressions but didn't have much luck. I think, other than parsing the string, you can use a "nuclear option" and compile a DLL using CSharpCodeProvider and then load it using Assembly.LoadFile and execute a method that will evaluate typeof(...).

Answer 4

I think this is what you were looking for...

var dict = new Dictionary<string, string>();
var type = dict.GetType();
var typeName = type.FullName;
var newType = Type.GetType(typeName);

Console.WriteLine(type == newType); //true

Answer 5

For the .NET to C# direction, I can't see an easy way to do it; you may have to actually parse the type yourself.

In the other direction, it's pretty easy:

public static string DotNetToCSharp(string tyName) {
    var provider = new Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider();
    return provider.GetTypeOutput(new System.CodeDom.CodeTypeReference(tyName));
}