C# - Programmatic equivalent of default(Type)

Question

I'm using reflection to loop through a Type's properties and set certain types to their default. Now, I could do a switch on the type and set the default(Type) explicitly, but I'd rather do it in one line. Is there a programmatic equivalent of default?

Answer 1

Have you tried the DefaultValueAttribute?

Answer 2

Can't find anything simple and elegant just yet, but I have one idea: If you know the type of the property you wish to set, you can write your own default(T). There are two cases - T is a value type, and T is a reference type. You can see this by checking T.IsValueType. If T is a reference type, then you can simply set it to null. If T is a value type, then it will have a default parameterless constructor that you can call to get a "blank" value.

Answer 3

I do the same task like this.

//in MessageHeader 
   private void SetValuesDefault()
   {
        MessageHeader header = this;             
        Framework.ObjectPropertyHelper.SetPropertiesToDefault<MessageHeader>(this);
   }

//in ObjectPropertyHelper
   public static void SetPropertiesToDefault<T>(T obj) 
   {
            Type objectType = typeof(T);

            System.Reflection.PropertyInfo [] props = objectType.GetProperties();

            foreach (System.Reflection.PropertyInfo property in props)
            {
                if (property.CanWrite)
                {
                    string propertyName = property.Name;
                    Type propertyType = property.PropertyType;

                    object value = TypeHelper.DefaultForType(propertyType);
                    property.SetValue(obj, value, null);
                }
            }
    }

//in TypeHelper
    public static object DefaultForType(Type targetType)
    {
        return targetType.IsValueType ? Activator.CreateInstance(targetType) : null;
    }

Answer 4

• In case of a value type use Activator.CreateInstance and it should work fine.
• When using reference type just return null

    public static object GetDefault(Type type)
    {
       if(type.IsValueType)
       {
          return Activator.CreateInstance(type);
       }
       return null
    }

Answer 5

The chosen answer is a good answer, but be careful with the object returned.

string test = null;
string test2 = "";
if (test is string)
     Console.WriteLine("This will never be hit.");
if (test2 is string)
     Console.WriteLine("Always hit.");

Extrapolating...

string test = GetDefault(typeof(string));
if (test is string)
     Console.WriteLine("This will never be hit.");