Getting all types that implement an interface

Question

Using reflection, how can I get all types that implement an interface with C# 3.0/.NET 3.5 with the least code, and minimizing iterations?

This is what I want to re-write:

foreach (Type t in this.GetType().Assembly.GetTypes())
    if (t is IMyInterface)
        ; //do stuff

Answer 1

I got exceptions in the linq-code so I do it this way (without a complicated extension):

private static IList<Type> loadAllImplementingTypes(Type[] interfaces)
{
    IList<Type> implementingTypes = new List<Type>();

    // find all types
    foreach (var interfaceType in interfaces)
        foreach (var currentAsm in AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies())
            try
            {
                foreach (var currentType in currentAsm.GetTypes())
                    if (interfaceType.IsAssignableFrom(currentType) && currentType.IsClass && !currentType.IsAbstract)
                        implementingTypes.Add(currentType);
            }
            catch { }

    return implementingTypes;
}

Answer 2

Even better when choosing the Assembly location. Filter most of the assemblies if you know all your implemented interfaces are within the same Assembly.DefinedTypes.

// We get the assembly through the base class
var baseAssembly = typeof(baseClass).GetTypeInfo().Assembly;

// we filter the defined classes according to the interfaces they implement
var typeList = baseAssembly.DefinedTypes.Where(type => type.ImplementedInterfaces.Any(inter => inter == typeof(IMyInterface))).ToList();

By Can Bilgin

Answer 3

Edit: I've just seen the edit to clarify that the original question was for the reduction of iterations / code and that's all well and good as an exercise, but in real-world situations you're going to want the fastest implementation, regardless of how cool the underlying LINQ looks.

Here's my Utils method for iterating through the loaded types. It handles regular classes as well as interfaces, and the excludeSystemTypes option speeds things up hugely if you are looking for implementations in your own / third-party codebase.

public static List<Type> GetSubclassesOf(this Type type, bool excludeSystemTypes) {
    List<Type> list = new List<Type>();
    IEnumerator enumerator = Thread.GetDomain().GetAssemblies().GetEnumerator();
    while (enumerator.MoveNext()) {
        try {
            Type[] types = ((Assembly) enumerator.Current).GetTypes();
            if (!excludeSystemTypes || (excludeSystemTypes && !((Assembly) enumerator.Current).FullName.StartsWith("System."))) {
                IEnumerator enumerator2 = types.GetEnumerator();
                while (enumerator2.MoveNext()) {
                    Type current = (Type) enumerator2.Current;
                    if (type.IsInterface) {
                        if (current.GetInterface(type.FullName) != null) {
                            list.Add(current);
                        }
                    } else if (current.IsSubclassOf(type)) {
                        list.Add(current);
                    }
                }
            }
        } catch {
        }
    }
    return list;
}

It's not pretty, I'll admit.

Answer 4

There's no easy way (in terms of performance) to do what you want to do.

Reflection works with assemblys and types mainly so you'll have to get all the types of the assembly and query them for the right interface. Here's an example:

Assembly asm = Assembly.Load("MyAssembly");
Type[] types = asm.GetTypes();
Type[] result = types.where(x => x.GetInterface("IMyInterface") != null);

That will get you all the types that implement the IMyInterface in the Assembly MyAssembly

Answer 5

This worked for me. It loops though the classes and checks to see if they are derrived from myInterface

 foreach (Type mytype in System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetTypes()
                 .Where(mytype => mytype .GetInterfaces().Contains(typeof(myInterface)))) {
    //do stuff
 }

Answer 6

loop through all loaded assemblies, loop through all their types, and check if they implement the interface.

something like:

Type ti = typeof(IYourInterface);
foreach (Assembly asm in AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies()) {
    foreach (Type t in asm.GetTypes()) {
        if (ti.IsAssignableFrom(t)) {
            // here's your type in t
        }
    }
}