Convert CLR type names to equivalent idiomatic C# aliases (eg System.String => string, Int32 => int)

Question

I am parsing some objects and I'd like to dynamically generate some code. The thing is that when I'm reading types I got things like :

System.String
System.Int32
Boolean

I know it's strictly identical for C# to string, int and bool. But when I'm parsing my object, i got the "System" versions and I want to dynamically generate some code using strings and I want to generate the alias description, can I do it easyly ? (without something like a Dictionary associating typeofs to strings...)

what exactly do you mean by 'parsing some objects', show some code! — jcvandan, Oct 28 '11 at 14:27
I edited your title to avoid confusion, because "type conversion" is a quite different thing. — AakashM, Oct 28 '11 at 14:30
You can't do this. The ones you get are the actual types, "int", "string", etc. are nothing but aliases. — Alex, Oct 28 '11 at 14:32
@James ooh, http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/99812/who-has-the-power-to-delete-a-comment then I guess — AakashM, Oct 28 '11 at 14:38

JohnD · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-11T15:21:35.080

3

I don't know of a way to do this. However, there are not that many types so if it were me I would probably just write a mapping function.

You can find the list of C# type names here as a starting point:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/86792hfa(VS.71).aspx

Update: here is a reference for C# which includes decimal. Not sure why that was missing from above link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ya5y69ds.aspx

edited Aug 11 '12 at 15:21

answered Oct 28 '11 at 14:28

JohnD

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Strange, "decimal" is missing from that table. It's included in the tables that the other two answers link to. – RenniePet Aug 11 '12 at 04:32

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

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string and int are aliases for System.String and System.Int32.

Seems like you can use this to get the Types from strings: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.codedom.codetypeofexpression.aspx

// Creates a reference to the System.Int32 type.
CodeTypeReference int32typeRef = new CodeTypeReference("System.Int32");

But there is no way to get a string from type so you have to define your own mapping there: Is there a way to get a type's alias through reflection?

edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

Community

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answered Oct 28 '11 at 14:29

luqi

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I wanted to avoid this and I'll create the association mapping myself :( – Guillaume Slashy Oct 28 '11 at 14:31
and I can get a string from "dateTimeTypeRef" and "int32typeRef" ? I tried toString() but I got : System.CodeDom.CodeTypeReference – Guillaume Slashy Oct 28 '11 at 14:50
No you can't :( http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1362884/is-there-a-way-to-get-a-types-alias-through-reflection – luqi Oct 28 '11 at 14:51

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 28 '11 at 14:33

Once you compile the code you write in C# it no longer knows it came from C# code, therefore there is no way to automatically get the C# alias without doing exactly what you suggest - create a simple mapping dictionary.

The built in C# types are listed here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/ya5y69ds.aspx

This list is not going to change any time soon, as I shouldn't worry about hard coding this list into your application.

Convert CLR type names to equivalent idiomatic C# aliases (eg System.String => string, Int32 => int)

3 Answers3