How Type.GetType works when given partially qualified type name?

Question

In numerous places do I encounter partially qualified type names of the form FullTypeName, AssemblyName, i.e. like Type.AssemblyQualifiedName only

Answer 1

True, Type.GetType(string) does require an AssemblyQualifiedName. This can be in many forms:

MyNS.MyType, MyAssembly, Version=x.x.x.x, Culture=xxx, PublicKeyToken=XXXXXXXXXX

The following are also valid AssemblyQualifiedNames:

MyNS.MyType, MyAssembly, Version=x.x, Culture=xxx, PublicKeyToken=XXXXXXXXXX
MyNS.MyType, MyAssembly, Culture=xxx, PublicKeyToken=XXXXXXXXXX
MyNS.MyType, MyAssembly, PublicKeyToken=XXXXXXXXXX
MyNS.MyType, MyAssembly

For a signed assembly, the minimum required for a FullyQualifiedAssemblyName is:

MyNS.MyType, MyAssembly, PublicKeyToken=XXXXXXXXXX

For an unsigned assembly, the minimum required for a FullyQualifiedAssemblyName is:

MyNS.MyType, MyAssembly

No need for all the "hand waving" going on in the code snippets others have provided. Ensure that your type names are set up properly and you can access your types (and load assemblies dynamically) with a high degree of flexibility. I do this regularly.

In OP's example using:

Type.GetType("System.Net.Sockets.SocketException, System")

The reason for the failure was the absence of the PublicKeyToken. The .Net FW assemblies are all signed and therefore require the PublicKeyToken to resolve the Assembly name. The following would work:

Type.GetType("System.Net.Sockets.SocketException, System, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089")