Getting the abstract class type from which a class derives

Question

In .NET using the GetType function returns the concrete class type of the object. The problem is that i don't know what the type is going to be until runtime, but i do know from which abstract class its derives ( I am using abstract factories to create the adequate class).

How can i get the actual abstract class type? Is it even possible?

Answer 1

Type.BaseType will tell you the type from which the current type derives. You could recursively call Type.BaseType until Type.IsAbstract is true.

static class TypeExtensions {
    public static Type GetFirstAbstractBaseType(this Type type) {
        if (type == null) {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("type");
        }
        Type baseType = type.BaseType;
        if (baseType == null || baseType.IsAbstract) {
            return baseType;
        }
        return baseType.GetFirstAbstractBaseType();
    }

Usage:

Type abstractBase = typeof(Derived).GetFirstAbstractBaseType();

Answer 2

I think you are looking for the BaseType property off the Type class. This gets the type your current type directly inherits from.