Gets the Type of the current instance.

[Visual Basic]
Public Function GetType() As Type
[C#]
public Type GetType();
[C++]
public: Type* GetType();
[JScript]
public function GetType() : Type;

Return Value

The Type instance that represents the exact runtime type of the current instance.

Remarks

For two objects x and y that have identical runtime types, Object.ReferenceEquals(x.GetType(),y.GetType()) returns true.

The Type object exposes the metadata associated with the class of the current Object.

Example

[C#, JScript] The following code example demonstrates that GetType returns the runtime type of the current instance.

[C#] 
using System;

public class MyBaseClass: Object {
}

public class MyDerivedClass: MyBaseClass {
}

public class Test {

   public static void Main() {
      MyBaseClass myBase = new MyBaseClass();
      MyDerivedClass myDerived = new MyDerivedClass();
      object o = myDerived;
      MyBaseClass b = myDerived;

      Console.WriteLine("mybase: Type is {0}", myBase.GetType());
      Console.WriteLine("myDerived: Type is {0}", myDerived.GetType());
      Console.WriteLine("object o = myDerived: Type is {0}", o.GetType());
      Console.WriteLine("MyBaseClass b = myDerived: Type is {0}", b.GetType());
   }
}


/*

This code produces the following output.

mybase: Type is MyBaseClass
myDerived: Type is MyDerivedClass
object o = myDerived: Type is MyDerivedClass
MyBaseClass b = myDerived: Type is MyDerivedClass 

*/

[JScript] 
import System

public class MyBaseClass extends Object {
}

public class MyDerivedClass extends MyBaseClass {
}

public class Test {

   public static function Main() {
      var myBase : MyBaseClass = new MyBaseClass();
      var myDerived : MyDerivedClass = new MyDerivedClass();
      var o = myDerived;
      var b : MyBaseClass = myDerived;

      Console.WriteLine("mybase: Type is {0}", myBase.GetType());
      Console.WriteLine("myDerived: Type is {0}", myDerived.GetType());
      Console.WriteLine("object o = myDerived: Type is {0}", o.GetType());
      Console.WriteLine("MyBaseClass b = myDerived: Type is {0}", b.GetType());
   }
}

Test.Main();

/*

This code produces the following output.

mybase: Type is MyBaseClass
myDerived: Type is MyDerivedClass
object o = myDerived: Type is MyDerivedClass
MyBaseClass b = myDerived: Type is MyDerivedClass 

*/

[Visual Basic, C++] No example is available for Visual Basic or C++. To view a C# or JScript example, click the Language Filter button in the upper-left corner of the page.

Requirements

Platforms: Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 family, .NET Compact Framework - Windows CE .NET, Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) Standard

See Also

Object Class | Object Members | System Namespace | Type