Passing arguments to C# generic new() of templated type

In order to create an instance of a generic type in a function you must constrain it with the "new" flag.

public static string GetAllItems<T>(...) where T : new()

However that will only work when you want to call the constructor which has no parameters. Not the case here. Instead you'll have to provide another parameter which allows for the creation of object based on parameters. The easiest is a function.

public static string GetAllItems<T>(..., Func<ListItem,T> del) {
  ...
  List<T> tabListItems = new List<T>();
  foreach (ListItem listItem in listCollection) 
  {
    tabListItems.Add(del(listItem));
  }
  ...
}

You can then call it like so

GetAllItems<Foo>(..., l => new Foo(l));

Very old question, but new answer ;-)

The ExpressionTree version: (I think the fastests and cleanest solution)

Like Welly Tambunan said, "we could also use expression tree to build the object"

This will generate a 'constructor' (function) for the type/parameters given. It returns a delegate and accept the parameter types as an array of objects.

Here it is:

// this delegate is just, so you don't have to pass an object array. _(params)_
public delegate object ConstructorDelegate(params object[] args);

public static ConstructorDelegate CreateConstructor(Type type, params Type[] parameters)
{
    // Get the constructor info for these parameters
    var constructorInfo = type.GetConstructor(parameters);

    // define a object[] parameter
    var paramExpr = Expression.Parameter(typeof(Object[]));

    // To feed the constructor with the right parameters, we need to generate an array 
    // of parameters that will be read from the initialize object array argument.
    var constructorParameters = parameters.Select((paramType, index) =>
        // convert the object[index] to the right constructor parameter type.
        Expression.Convert(
            // read a value from the object[index]
            Expression.ArrayAccess(
                paramExpr,
                Expression.Constant(index)),
            paramType)).ToArray();

    // just call the constructor.
    var body = Expression.New(constructorInfo, constructorParameters);

    var constructor = Expression.Lambda<ConstructorDelegate>(body, paramExpr);
    return constructor.Compile();
}

Example MyClass:

public class MyClass
{
    public int TestInt { get; private set; }
    public string TestString { get; private set; }

    public MyClass(int testInt, string testString)
    {
        TestInt = testInt;
        TestString = testString;
    }
}

Usage:

// you should cache this 'constructor'
var myConstructor = CreateConstructor(typeof(MyClass), typeof(int), typeof(string));

// Call the `myConstructor` function to create a new instance.
var myObject = myConstructor(10, "test message");

Another example: passing the types as an array

var type = typeof(MyClass);
var args = new Type[] { typeof(int), typeof(string) };

// you should cache this 'constructor'
var myConstructor = CreateConstructor(type, args);

// Call the `myConstructor` fucntion to create a new instance.
var myObject = myConstructor(10, "test message");

DebugView of Expression

.Lambda #Lambda1<TestExpressionConstructor.MainWindow+ConstructorDelegate>(System.Object[] $var1) {
    .New TestExpressionConstructor.MainWindow+MyClass(
        (System.Int32)$var1[0],
        (System.String)$var1[1])
}

This is equivalent to the code that is generated:

public object myConstructor(object[] var1)
{
    return new MyClass(
        (System.Int32)var1[0],
        (System.String)var1[1]);
}

Small downside

All valuetypes parameters are boxed when they are passed like an object array.

Simple performance test:

private void TestActivator()
{
    Stopwatch sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
    for (int i = 0; i < 1024 * 1024 * 10; i++)
    {
        var myObject = Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(MyClass), 10, "test message");
    }
    sw.Stop();
    Trace.WriteLine("Activator: " + sw.Elapsed);
}

private void TestReflection()
{
    var constructorInfo = typeof(MyClass).GetConstructor(new[] { typeof(int), typeof(string) });

    Stopwatch sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
    for (int i = 0; i < 1024 * 1024 * 10; i++)
    {
        var myObject = constructorInfo.Invoke(new object[] { 10, "test message" });
    }

    sw.Stop();
    Trace.WriteLine("Reflection: " + sw.Elapsed);
}

private void TestExpression()
{
    var myConstructor = CreateConstructor(typeof(MyClass), typeof(int), typeof(string));

    Stopwatch sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();

    for (int i = 0; i < 1024 * 1024 * 10; i++)
    {
        var myObject = myConstructor(10, "test message");
    }

    sw.Stop();
    Trace.WriteLine("Expression: " + sw.Elapsed);
}

TestActivator();
TestReflection();
TestExpression();

Results:

Activator: 00:00:13.8210732
Reflection: 00:00:05.2986945
Expression: 00:00:00.6681696

Using Expressions is +/- 8 times faster than Invoking the ConstructorInfo and +/- 20 times faster than using the Activator

This will not work in your situation. You can only specify the constraint that it has an empty constructor:

public static string GetAllItems<T>(...) where T: new()

What you could do is use property injection by defining this interface:

public interface ITakesAListItem
{
   ListItem Item { set; }
}

Then you could alter your method to be this:

public static string GetAllItems<T>(...) where T : ITakesAListItem, new()
{
   ...
   List<T> tabListItems = new List<T>();
   foreach (ListItem listItem in listCollection) 
   {
       tabListItems.Add(new T() { Item = listItem });
   } 
   ...
}

The other alternative is the Func method described by JaredPar.

You need to add where T: new() to let the compiler know that T is guaranteed to provide a default constructor.

public static string GetAllItems<T>(...) where T: new()

If all is you need is convertion from ListItem to your type T you can implement this convertion in T class as conversion operator.

public class T
{
    public static implicit operator T(ListItem listItem) => /* ... */;
}

public static string GetAllItems(...)
{
    ...
    List<T> tabListItems = new List<T>();
    foreach (ListItem listItem in listCollection) 
    {
        tabListItems.Add(listItem);
    } 
    ...
}

Supplementary performance information

Performance test of database access and filling of data model class with the expression method of Jeroen van Langen (see above) and direct instantiation of the data model class.

Conclusion: The expression method is faster.

Results:

1. Test: direct instance of data model class: Records: 3558, seconds: 1.2746019
2. Test: instance with method read list with type parameter: records: 3558, seconds: 0.4878858

Code example of the expression method:

var list = ReadList<DataModel>(SQLStatement, Connection);

Method ReadList: Note: all data model class has a constructor with parameter type of SQLDataReader

public static List<pDataModel> ReadList<pDataModel>(string pSQLStatement, SqlConnection pConnection) where pDataModel : new()
    {
            // constructor of data model
            var lType = typeof(pDataModel);
            var lParameters = new Type[] { typeof(SqlDataReader) };
            var lDataModelConstructor = CreateConstructor(lType, lParameters);

            // read data
            List<pDataModel> lDataList = new List<pDataModel>();
            using (pConnection)
            {
                SqlCommand lCommand;
                lCommand = new SqlCommand(pSQLStatement, pConnection);
                pConnection.Open();
                SqlDataReader lReader = lCommand.ExecuteReader();


                if (lReader.HasRows)
                {
                    while (lReader.Read())
                    {
                        pDataModel lDataItem = (pDataModel)lDataModelConstructor(lReader);
                        lDataList.Add(lDataItem);
                    }
                }
                lReader.Close();
                pConnection.Close();
            }

            return lDataList;
    }

Code example of the direct instantiation:

           List<DataModel> list= new List<DataModel>();
            using (connection)
            {
                SqlCommand command;
                command = new SqlCommand(SQLStatement, connection);
                connection.Open();
                SqlDataReader reader = command.ExecuteReader();
                if (reader.HasRows)
                {
                    while (reader.Read())
                    {
                        list.Add(new DataModel(reader));
                    }
                }
                reader.Close();
                connection.Close();
            }

I believe you have to constraint T with a where statement to only allow objects with a new constructor.

RIght now it accepts anything including objects without it.