How can I find which classes implement a given interface in Visual Studio?

Question

I have a solution.
I have an interface.
I have several classes that implement the interface.

I can use "Find All References" in order to find where the interface is implemented, but it also returns results where the interface is the return type, or where a class explicitly implements an interface's method.

Is there a better way to quickly/easily find which classes implement the interface?

Possible duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/620376/how-do-you-find-all-implementations-of-an-interface — Steve Chambers, Apr 25 '13 at 15:02
So it appears that currently (without buying add ons) this is not possible in Visual Studio. This is a very expensive tool and yet it lacks this helpful feature. I don't get why people are so in love with Visual Studio. — jcollum, Nov 14 '14 at 17:54

sennett · Answer 1 · 2014-09-01T16:44:01.677

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Using VS2010, with Productivity Power Tools (free) installed:

Leave debug mode if necessary
Hover over a reference to the interface
Expand the drop down that appears
"Implemented By"

edited Sep 01 '14 at 16:44

answered Feb 09 '12 at 23:20

sennett

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Not for Visual Studio 2012 – Eugene Maksimov Sep 04 '13 at 11:08

Marc Gravell · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-23T11:06:44.137

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Reflector (which used to be free) will show you this; load the dll and find the interface (F3) - expand the "Derived Types" node.

edited Nov 23 '12 at 11:06

answered Jun 04 '09 at 17:38

Marc Gravell

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In the case of a website, where classes (can) live in the App_Code directory, what then? – John B Jun 04 '09 at 17:41
I can't say - I haven't used "web site" in a few years, preferring "web application project". – Marc Gravell Jun 04 '09 at 17:43
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Reflector is not longer free :( – Bryan Aug 11 '11 at 14:26
Productivity Power Tools are free from Visual Studio Gallery., up to answer by sennett on this page. – jimjim Nov 23 '12 at 11:03
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@Arjang indeed; things change. It was free at the time, though. I've updated the answer – Marc Gravell Nov 23 '12 at 11:07
I don't think he is referring to third party dll's here. – RayLoveless Aug 21 '13 at 14:43
how do you expand the "Derived Types"? – RayLoveless Aug 21 '13 at 15:35
@sergtk How do you use ILSpy to do this? I don't see "Derived Types" anywhere. – xr280xr Mar 01 '16 at 20:57
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@xr280xr Find and expand interface on left pane. You will see "Base Types", "Derived types" under this interface. This is in ILSpy version 2.3.1.1855. You can see how it looks like on the picture http://postimg.org/image/5ijbp5a49/ (I filled namespace and class names - you will see them in your dll) – sergtk Mar 02 '16 at 18:10

Steffen · Answer 3 · 2009-06-04T19:07:08.940

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Why not just search in the entire solution for this:

\:.*MyInterface

and enable regular expressions in the search box - that ought to do the job.

Edit: Fixed the regex, it was for java before, whoops.

edited Jun 04 '09 at 19:07

answered Jun 04 '09 at 18:38

Steffen

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Not in C#; and there isn't a simple yet reliable version of : IMyInterface - it could be : SomeClass, IMyInterface | : SomeClass, ISomethingElse, IMyInterface, : SomeClass where T : IMyInterface, etc – Marc Gravell Jun 04 '09 at 18:50
IMyInterface was just an example - as SkippyFire says he has an interface, I presume he has a specific interface, and thus a name for it. The regex search really should work, it works for me in Visual Studio 2008. I've just edited the expression, as the other one was for Java - my bad. – Steffen Jun 04 '09 at 19:07
Sorry for the many comments, I totally misread your comment, and I can see be re-reading it, that you have a good point. However the regex is sound enough for SomeClass: ISomething, IMyInterface But with generic constraints we have a problem. It could easily be done, if visual studio implemented a proper regex engine for search'n'replace, but alas it doesn't :-( – Steffen Jun 04 '09 at 19:19

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 04 '09 at 17:36

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Using the "Go to Inheritor" feature in Resharper or a similar plugin would do the trick.

answered Jun 04 '09 at 17:36

PHeiberg

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How can I find which classes implement a given interface in Visual Studio?

4 Answers4