Writing and reading a type value to/from file

Question

I need to be able to store a type value into a file, and read it back into a type value later. What's the best way to go about this?

Type type = typeof(SomeClass);
binaryWriter.Write?(type);

Answer 1

I'd store the assembly-qualified name, assuming the assembly will still be present later:

binaryWriter.Write(type.AssemblyQualifiedName);
...
string typeName = binaryReader.ReadString();
Type type = Type.GetType(typeName);

If you already know what assembly the type will be in, you could just use the full name (i.e. namespace and type name, but not assembly). Then use Assembly.GetType(string) later.