Is there a way to pass an argument to the is operator?

Question

I am trying to find an alternative to the following so that I can take advantage of the is operator.

public bool IsOfType(Type type)
{
    return this._item.GetType() == type;
}

Something similar to the following, which does not compile.

public bool IsOfType(Type type)
{
    return this._item is type;
}

Answer 1

I think you're looking for Type.IsAssignableFrom:

public bool IsOfType(Type type)
{
    return _item != null && type.IsAssignableFrom(_item.GetType());
}

Or if you can make the method generic, that's simpler as you can use is with a type parameter:

public bool IsOfType<T>()
{
    return _item is T;
}

EDIT: As noted in Wim's answer, there's also Type.IsInstanceOf which makes the non-generic method simpler:

public bool IsOfType(Type type)
{
    return type.InstanceOf(_item);
}

Answer 2

You can do multiple things, depending on the context:

• Use Type.IsAssignableFrom(Type) if all you've got is two type-instances.
• Use Type.IsInstanceOf(object instance) if you have access to an instance to compare.

• Use generics like:

  public bool IsOfType<T>()
  {
      return this._item is T;
  }