Accessing non-static DAL methods

Question

Hi,

I am fairly new to .net and am creating a web app for learning purposes. I have a DAL with non static methods in it. My question is, how should i be accessing these methods in the business layer?

I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad way but currently i use this class to create instances of the DAL methods:

public DataAccess
{
    public static T GetInstance<T>(Type type)
    {
        return (T)Activator.CreateInstance(type);
    }
}

And i use the instances like this in my DLL:

public void Save(Article article)
{
    ArticleDAL art = DataAccess.GetInstance<ArticleDAL>(typeof(ArticleDAL));
    art.Save(article);
}

Any improvements or recommendations?

Answer 1

Yes, use a Generic constraint so no need to pass the type in at all:

public DataAccess 
{ 
    public static T GetInstance<T>() where T : new()
    { 
        return new T()
    } 
}

Answer 2

There really is no reason not to just create a new instace of the DAL, the factory doesn't achieve anything here.

public void Save(Article article)
{
    ArticleDAL art = new ArticleDAL();
    art.Save(article);
}