Ufdjrw

I have a C# console app. This app is built to work with some existing, strongly-typed code. I need to convert the strongly-typed objects to something more dynamic. In an attempt to do this, I've decided to use generics. However, I have one thing that I can't figure out.

If I have a Type, how do I pass that to a method and use it? With generics, a compile-time type is required. However, my type is generated a run-time. How do I do this? As shown in the contrived example below, I basically want to convert from one a compile-time known type to a type generated at runtime. In the following two lines, I want to use the type generated at runtime in place of T.

var ingredient1 = BlendableItem.ConvertTo<T>(strawberry);
var ingredient2 = BlendableItem.ConvertTo<T>(blueberry);

In an effort to drive the concept home, here is my contrived example.

public class MyConsoleApp

 private dynamic blender = null;

 static void Main(string[] args)
 
 // Identify the types of items to blend together from the config file
 // Imaging for this example this value is "Fruit"
 var typeToUse = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["TypeToUse"];

 // Create a new Blender<typeToUse>
 var blenderType = typeof(Blender<>);
 var newBlenderType = blenderType.MakeGenericType(typeToUse);
 blender = Activator.CreateInstance(newBlenderType); 

 // Get the items to blend 
 var strawberry = new Strawberry();
 var blueberry = new Blueberry();

 // Convert items to "newBlenderType"
 var ingredient1 = BlendableItem.ConvertTo<T>(strawberry);
 var ingredient2 = BlendableItem.ConvertTo<T>(blueberry);

 var ingredients = new List<dynamic>() 
 ingredient1,
 ingredient2
 ;

 var result = blender.Blend(ingredients);
 


public class Strawberry : BlendableItem


public class Blueberry : BlendableItem


public class Blender<T> where T : BlendableItem

 public bool Blend(List<T> ingredients)
 
 // do stuff
 return true;
 


public class BlendableItem

 public static T ConvertTo<T>(Fruit fruit)
 
 object result = null;
 // move properties from fruit to result
 return result;
 

How do I pass a type that's generated at run-time to a method that uses generics?

Thank you