How to get the lowercase name of an object, even when null, in C# [duplicate]

Answer 1

Just expanding upon @Josh Einstein's answer.

Below are two extension methods to get the type of a variable even if it is currently set to null.

    /// 

    /// Gets an object's type even if it is null.
    /// 
    /// The type of the object.
    /// The object being extended.
    /// The objects type.
    public static Type GetTheType(this T that)
    {
        return typeof(T);
    }

    /// 

    /// Gets an object's type even if it is null.
    /// 
    /// The object being extended.
    /// The objects type.
    public static Type GetTheType(this object that)
    {
        if (that != null)
        {
            return that.GetType();
        }

        return null;
    }

Also, here are two simple unit tests to test the extension methods.

    /// 

    /// Tests to make sure that the correct type is return.
    /// 
    [Test(Description = "Tests to make sure that the correct type is return.")]
    public void Test_GetTheType()
    {
        var value = string.Empty;

        var theType = value.GetTheType();

        Assert.That(theType, Is.SameAs(typeof(string)));
    }

    /// 

    /// Tests to make sure that the correct type is returned even if the value is null.
    /// 
    [Test(Description = "Tests to make sure that the correct type is returned even if the value is null.")]
    public void Test_GetTheType_ReturnsTypeEvenIfValueIsNull()
    {
        string value = null;

        var theType = value.GetTheType();

        Assert.That(theType, Is.SameAs(typeof(string)));
    }

Edit Sorry, I forgot to mention that I was needing this exact same feature for a project I'm currently on. All credit still should go to @Josh Einstein :D