Activator.CreateInstance<T> Method

The CreateInstance generic method is used by compilers to implement the instantiation of types specified by type parameters. For example, in the following generic method, the implementation of new T() (gcnew T() in C++) uses the CreateInstance generic method.

public static T Factory<T>() where T:new()
{
    return new T();
}

In general, there is no use for the CreateInstance in application code, because the type must be known at compile time. If the type is known at compile time, normal instantiation syntax can be used (new operator in C#, New in Visual Basic, gcnew in C++).

There are no overloads of the CreateInstance generic method that take argument lists, because the non-generic overloads of CreateInstance already provide late-bound constructor resolution.

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

Portable Class Library

.NET for Windows Store apps

Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core Role not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core Role supported with SP1 or later; Itanium not supported)

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Reference