Declaring an object of a conditional type with a System.Type

Question

I am attempting to launch a specific form depending on the selected node of a treeview on the doubleclick event. The code I need to use to launch the form is a little bulky becuase I have to ensure that the form is not disposed, and that the form is not already open, before launching a new instance. I'd like to have all of this checking happen in one place at the end of the function, which means that I have to be able to pass the right form type to the code at the end. I'm trying to do this with a System.Type, but that doesn't seem to be working. Could someone point me in the right direction, please?

    With TreeView.SelectedNode
        Dim formType As Type
        Select Case .Text
            Case "Email to VPs"
                formType = EmailForm.GetType()
            Case "Revise Replacers"
                formType = DedicatedReplacerForm.GetType()
            Case "Start Email"
                formType = EmailForm.GetType()
        End Select
        Dim form As formType
         Dim form As formType
        Try
            form = CType(.Tag, formType)
            If Not form.IsDisposed Then
                form.Activate()
                Exit Sub
            End If
        Catch ex As NullReferenceException
            'This will error out the first time it is run as the form has not yet 
            ' been defined.
        End Try
        form = New formType
        form.MdiParent = Me
        .Tag = form
        CType(TreeView.SelectedNode.Tag, Form).Show()
    End With

Answer 1

You can't new a Type. The Type is a runtime-type information, new needs to know the type at compile time.

Use either reflection (Activator) or generics.

Sorry I don't know VB, I can't give you a code example in VB.

c# example:

T CreateForm<T>() where T : Form, new()
{
  return new T();
}

or

Form CreateForm(Type t)
{
  return (Form)Activator.CreateInstance(t);
}