How to determine if a type implements a specific generic interface type

Question

Assume the following type definitions:

public interface IFoo<T> : IBar<T> {}
public class Foo<T> : IFoo<T> {}

How do I find out whether the type Foo implements the generic interface IBar<T> when only the mangled type is available?

Answer 1

You have to check against a constructed type of the generic interface.

You will have to do something like this:

foo is IBar<String>

because IBar<String> represents that constructed type. The reason you have to do this is because if T is undefined in your check, the compiler doesn't know if you mean IBar<Int32> or IBar<SomethingElse>.

Answer 2

You have to go up through the inheritance tree and find all the interfaces for each class in the tree, and compare typeof(IBar<>) with the result of calling Type.GetGenericTypeDefinition if the interface is generic. It's all a bit painful, certainly.

See this answer and these ones for more info and code.

Answer 3

public interface IFoo<T> : IBar<T> {}
public class Foo : IFoo<Foo> {}

var implementedInterfaces = typeof( Foo ).GetInterfaces();
foreach( var interfaceType in implementedInterfaces ) {
    if ( false == interfaceType.IsGeneric ) { continue; }
    var genericType = interfaceType.GetGenericTypeDefinition();
    if ( genericType == typeof( IFoo<> ) ) {
        // do something !
        break;
    }
}

Answer 4

First of all public class Foo : IFoo<T> {} does not compile because you need to specify a class instead of T, but assuming you do something like public class Foo : IFoo<SomeClass> {}

then if you do

Foo f = new Foo();
IBar<SomeClass> b = f as IBar<SomeClass>;

if(b != null)  //derives from IBar<>
    Blabla();

Answer 5

By using the answer from TcKs it can also be done with the following LINQ query:

bool isBar = foo.GetType().GetInterfaces().Any(x =>
  x.IsGenericType &&
  x.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(IBar<>));

Answer 6

As a helper method extension

public static bool Implements<I>(this Type type, I @interface) where I : class  
{
    if(((@interface as Type)==null) || !(@interface as Type).IsInterface)
        throw new ArgumentException("Only interfaces can be 'implemented'.");

    return (@interface as Type).IsAssignableFrom(type);
}

example usage:

var testObject = new Dictionary<int, object>();
result = testObject.GetType().Implements(typeof(IDictionary<int, object>)); // true!