How Can I Dynamically Load and Instantiate Types from Assembly Names in .NET?

Dynamically load and instantiate assembly types at runtime

In some cases, you may need to instantiate an object at runtime without being able to modify the project's assembly reference. This occurs when you only know the assembly name and fully qualified type name of the required class.

Method:

To overcome this challenge, you can use .NET's reflection and assembly loading mechanisms to perform the following steps:

1. Use the Assembly.LoadFrom method to load the assembly into memory. This method can load an assembly even if the absolute path to the assembly is unknown, making it suitable for assemblies that are located in a different directory or loaded into the Global Assembly Cache (GAC).
2. Retrieve type metadata from a loaded assembly using the Type.GetType method. This step requires a fully qualified type name as a parameter.
3. Call Type with the obtained Activator.CreateInstance object to instantiate the required type.

Here is a simplified code example:

<code class="language-csharp">Assembly assembly = Assembly.LoadFrom("MyCoolAssembly.dll");
Type myType = assembly.GetType("MyNamespace.MyType");
object myInstance = Activator.CreateInstance(myType);</code>

Alternative to dynamic type resolution:

If you have both the assembly file name and the type name, you can use the Activator.CreateInstance(assemblyName, typeName) method. This method allows .NET to automatically resolve types without manual reflection. If any parsing issues arise, you can include a try/catch block to search the specific assembly directory, or try loading it manually using the Assembly.LoadFrom method mentioned earlier.

By using these techniques, you have the flexibility to dynamically load and instantiate types at runtime, even if you don't have access to the assembly's physical location or don't reference it directly in your project.

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