Reflection only works in Play Mode?

Questions & Answers
1

Hi guys I’m trying to get some types here but the code aways return null inside my Editor Window but if I use the same piece of code on a monobehaviour while playing in unity the code just works. Any word on that?

The code:

System.Type t = System.Type.GetType("NSNode")
Debug.Log(t);

t is aways null while in the editor, and aways NSNode inside the ‘game’.

Here is the full code with the Instancing method I’m trying to use:

System.Type t = System.Type.GetType("NSNode")
Debug.Log(t);
NSNode n = (NSNode)System.Activator.CreateInstance(t);
Debug.Log(n);
2

To access information for a specific type that is in a different assembly you have two choices:

Choice #1 - Use an assembly qualified name

This can be achieved with and without namespaces:

// Without a namespace
System.Type nodeType = System.Type.GetType("NSNode,Assembly-CSharp");

// With a namespace
System.Type nodeType = System.Type.GetType("Some.Namespace.NSNode,Assembly-CSharp");

As one might guess, the runtime assembly for UnityScripts is “Assembly-UnityScript”.

Choice #2 - Get access to the assembly through a known class

Let’s suppose that you have a class called “SomeRuntimeClass” which exists in the runtime assembly. You can then access any other types in that assembly without needing assembly qualified lookups:

// Start of script, keep local copy of assembly
private Assembly runtimeAssembly = typeof(SomeRuntimeClass).Assembly;
// OR
private Assembly runtimeAssembly = Assembly.Load("Assembly-CSharp");

...

// Lookup class from assembly by name alone:
System.Type nodeType = runtimeAssembly.GetType("NSNode");

And then use the Activator class to create an instance of nodeType.