Type-safely pass a class name to a method

Question

I need the class name in a method say for example X. Meanwhile, I don't want to loose type-safety and I'm not gonna allow other developers to pass a string (class name) to the method.

Something like this:

void X( ??? class) // --> don't know how
{
 var className = get the name of class // --> which I don't know how
 Console.WriteLine(className);
}

X(tblEmployee); //--> usage of X, where tblEmployee is a POCO class

Answer 1

What you are looking for is a called a Type, which contains metadata about classes.

You can use the typeof(class) or .GetType() method on any object instance.

The different is that typeof is resolved statically and GetType is resolved at runtime.

void X(Type type)
{
    Console.WriteLine(type.FullName);
}

X(typeof(tblEmployee));

Answer 2

You could use generics and the FullName property of Type, as such:

void WriteClassName<TClass>(TClass item)
  where TClass : class {
    Console.WriteLine(item.GetType().FullName);
}

And then apply contraints on TClass as per your requirements.

Answer 3

void X(Type type)
{
    if(type == typeof(DesiredType))
    {
          Do Some Action
    }
}