Type.IsGenericTypeDefinition Property
May 02, 2013
Gets a value indicating whether the current Type represents a generic type definition, from which other generic types can be constructed.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Property Value
Type: System.Booleantrue if the Type object represents a generic type definition; otherwise, false.
A generic type definition is a template from which other types can be constructed. For example, from the generic type definition G<T> (expressed in C# syntax; G(Of T) in Visual Basic or generic <typename T> ref class G in C++) you can construct and instantiate the type G<int> (G(Of Integer) in Visual Basic), by calling the MakeGenericType method with a generic argument list containing the Int32 type. Given a Type object representing this constructed type, the GetGenericTypeDefinition method gets the generic type definition back again.
Use the IsGenericTypeDefinition property to determine whether you can create new types from the current type. If the IsGenericTypeDefinition property returns true, you can call the MakeGenericType method to create new generic types.
For a list of the invariant conditions for terms used in generic reflection, see the IsGenericType property remarks.
The following example displays information about a type, including whether or not it is a generic type definition. Information is displayed for a constructed type, for its generic type definition, and for an ordinary type.
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To run this example, see Building examples that have static TextBlock controls for Windows Phone. |
using System; using System.Reflection; using System.Collections.Generic; public class Example { private static void DisplayGenericTypeInfo(System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock outputBlock, Type t) { outputBlock.Text += String.Format("\r\n{0}", t) + "\n"; outputBlock.Text += String.Format("\tIs this a generic type definition? {0}", t.IsGenericTypeDefinition) + "\n"; outputBlock.Text += String.Format("\tIs it a generic type? {0}", t.IsGenericType) + "\n"; if (t.IsGenericType) { // If this is a generic type, display the type arguments. // Type[] typeArguments = t.GetGenericArguments(); outputBlock.Text += String.Format("\tList type arguments ({0}):", typeArguments.Length) + "\n"; foreach (Type tParam in typeArguments) { // If this is a type parameter, display its // position. // if (tParam.IsGenericParameter) { outputBlock.Text += String.Format("\t\t{0}\t(unassigned - parameter position {1})", tParam, tParam.GenericParameterPosition) + "\n"; } else { outputBlock.Text += String.Format("\t\t{0}", tParam) + "\n"; } } } } public static void Demo(System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock outputBlock) { outputBlock.Text += String.Format("\r\n--- Display information about a constructed type, its") + "\n"; outputBlock.Text += String.Format(" generic type definition, and an ordinary type.") + "\n"; // Create a Dictionary of Example objects, using strings for the // keys. Dictionary<string, Example> d = new Dictionary<string, Example>(); // Display information for the constructed type and its generic // type definition. DisplayGenericTypeInfo(outputBlock, d.GetType()); DisplayGenericTypeInfo(outputBlock, d.GetType().GetGenericTypeDefinition()); // Display information for an ordinary type. DisplayGenericTypeInfo(outputBlock, typeof(string)); } } /* This example produces the following output: --- Display information about a constructed type, its generic type definition, and an ordinary type. System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[System.String,Test] Is this a generic type definition? False Is it a generic type? True List type arguments (2): System.String Test System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[TKey,TValue] Is this a generic type definition? True Is it a generic type? True List type arguments (2): TKey (unassigned - parameter position 0) TValue (unassigned - parameter position 1) System.String Is this a generic type definition? False Is it a generic type? False */
