Using reflection to create instances of a protected class

Question

Can someone please explain to me how the Activator.CreateInstance method is able to create instances of a protected class?

public abstract class File
{
    public string Name {get; set;}
}

public class ExcelFile : File
{
    protected ExcelFile()
    {
    }
}

It's not possible to create a new instance of the object by calling ExcelFile file = new ExcelFile();

'ExcelFile' is inaccessible due to its protection level

Yet it's possible to create it using:

Type type = Type.GetType("ConsoleApplication.ExcelFile");
object o = Activator.CreateInstance(type, BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.CreateInstance, null, new object[0], CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

The above code was lifted from the BCL WebRequest.Create() method and would like to what parameters in Activator.CreateInstance is allowing reflection to create an instance of a protected class?

Note: I plan to use the Activator.CreateInstance in a factory class to return new objects so would like to have a better understanding how it works.

The parameter that enables it is `BindingFlags.NonPublic`. – Rick Sladkey Jun 10 '11 at 03:29 — Rick Sladkey, Jun 10 '11 at 03:29

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 10 '11 at 03:22

1

Reflection doesn't care about access modifiers

answered Jun 10 '11 at 03:22

Daniel

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Using reflection to create instances of a protected class

1 Answers1