Defining the type of a List in vb.net at runtime

Question

I'm creating a class at run time using typebuilder and after I create this class I want to define its type for a list like ``` dim fooList as new List(of DynamicClassName) ``` Since this doesn't exist at compile time of course it throws an error. When I generate this type I return the type so I can't do something like ``` dim newType = createNewType(foobar) dim fooList as new List(of getType(newType)) ``` How do I assign the type of a List at runtime?

Accepted Answer

You can create a `List(Of T)`, but AFAIK you won't be able to cast it to a typed object. I've used the `String` type in the following example.

```
Dim list As Object = Activator.CreateInstance(GetType(List(Of )).MakeGenericType(New Type() {GetType(String)}))

Debug.WriteLine((TypeOf list Is List(Of String)).ToString())
```

Output

True

So in your case it would look like this:

```
Dim newType = createNewType(foobar)

'Creates a List(Of foobar):
Dim list As IList = Ctype(Activator.CreateInstance(GetType(List(Of )).MakeGenericType(New Type() {newType})), IList)

'Creates a BindingList(Of foobar):
Dim bindingList As IBindingList = Ctype(Activator.CreateInstance(GetType(BindingList(Of )).MakeGenericType(New Type() {newType})), IBindingList)
```

Defining the type of a List in vb.net at runtime

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