Programmatic equivalent of default(Type)

Question

I'm using reflection to loop through a Type's properties and set certain types to their default. Now, I could do a switch on the type and set the default(Type) explicitly, but I'd rather do it in one line. Is there a programmatic equivalent of default?

Answer 1

You can use PropertyInfo.SetValue(obj, null). If called on a value type it will give you the default. This behavior is documented in .NET 4.0 and in .NET 4.5.

Answer 2

The chosen answer is a good answer, but be careful with the object returned.

string test = null;
string test2 = "";
if (test is string)
     Console.WriteLine("This will never be hit.");
if (test2 is string)
     Console.WriteLine("Always hit.");

Extrapolating...

string test = GetDefault(typeof(string));
if (test is string)
     Console.WriteLine("This will never be hit.");

Answer 3

Equivalent to Dror's answer but as an extension method:

namespace System
{
    public static class TypeExtensions
    {
        public static object Default(this Type type)
        {
            object output = null;

            if (type.IsValueType)
            {
                output = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
            }

            return output;
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

Can't find anything simple and elegant just yet, but I have one idea: If you know the type of the property you wish to set, you can write your own default(T). There are two cases - T is a value type, and T is a reference type. You can see this by checking T.IsValueType. If T is a reference type, then you can simply set it to null. If T is a value type, then it will have a default parameterless constructor that you can call to get a "blank" value.

Answer 5

 /// <summary>
    /// returns the default value of a specified type
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="type"></param>
    public static object GetDefault(this Type type)
    {
        return type.IsValueType ? (!type.IsGenericType ? Activator.CreateInstance(type) : type.GenericTypeArguments[0].GetDefault() ) : null;
    }

Answer 6

Why do you say generics are out of the picture?

    public static object GetDefault(Type t)
    {
        Func<object> f = GetDefault<object>;
        return f.Method.GetGenericMethodDefinition().MakeGenericMethod(t).Invoke(null, null);
    }

    private static T GetDefault<T>()
    {
        return default(T);
    }