Can you pass a "type" as an argument?

Question

I want to do something like the following in VB.NET, is it possible?

Function task(value as Object, toType as Type)

   Return DirectCast(value, toType)

End Function

Answer 1

Yes. There is System.Type. You may actually want to do a Generic however.

Function SomeFunction(Of T)(obj As Object) As T
    '' Magic
End Function

Answer 2

Great Answer - Here is a generic function to do the same:

Public Sub BindListControlToEnum(Of T)(ListCtrl As ListControl)
    Dim itemValues As Array = System.Enum.GetValues(GetType(T))
    Dim itemNames As Array = System.Enum.GetNames(GetType(T))
    For i As Integer = 0 To itemNames.Length - 1
        Dim item As New ListItem(itemNames(i), itemValues(i))
        ListCtrl.Items.Add(item)
    Next
End Sub

Call it like this:

BindDropdownToEnum(Of MyClass.MyEnum)(MyRadioButtonListControl)