I need to write my own XmlSerializer, and I have problems handling generics. How can I find the types used by a generic type? And how can I instantiate a generic class with specified types? E.g. if I have an instance of List<Sprite>, how do I "get" that it's typed for Sprite? And, when deserializing, if I know that it's a List<> of Sprite, how do I instantiate it? (I don't even know what to google for, I'm just finding very basic generics info) Thanks!

You might use code like this to get generic arguments:


This URL might have some useful information: Reflection and Generic Types

Thanks guys, that did it! Just in case anyone should have the same problem:

//To serialize:
Type genericType = instanceToSerialize.GetType();
Type genericBase = genericType.GetGenericTypeDefinition();
Type[] typeArgs = genericType.GetGenericArguments();

//serialize / deserialize genericBase.Name and typeArgs names
string[] typeArgsNames = ... //create an array with typeArgs type names
string genericBaseName = genericBase.Name

//To construct instance:

//Note: GetType() uses a LUT to find types in all loaded assemblies
Type[] XtypeArgs = ...//loop through typeArgsNames and GetType()
Type XgenericBase = GetType(genericBaseName);
Type XgenericType = XgenericBase.MakeGenericType(XtypeArgs);
object XinstanceToSerialize = Activator.CreateInstance(constructed);

(X signifies it's the same as the corresponding variable without the X).