IServiceProvider Interface

Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection

Represents a contract that defines a mechanism for retrieving a service object using a specified key or type. This is the core interface for accessing services in a dependency injection container.

Summary

The IServiceProvider interface is fundamental to the .NET dependency injection system. It provides a single method, GetService(Type serviceType), which allows you to resolve an instance of a service registered with the container. When you request a service, the container uses this interface to find and return the appropriate implementation.

Members

Name	Description
GetService	Retrieves the service object of the specified type.

GetService Method

object GetService(Type serviceType);

This method takes a System.Type object representing the service you want to retrieve. If a service of the specified type is registered with the dependency injection container, an instance of that service is returned. Otherwise, null is returned.

Parameters

serviceType The System.Type of the service object to get.

Returns

An instance of the service object, or null if there is no registered service of the specified type.

Remarks

It's common practice to cast the returned object to the desired service type. For example: var logger = (ILogger)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(ILogger));. Many modern .NET applications use generic versions of this method (e.g., serviceProvider.GetService<ILogger>()) provided by extensions for better type safety and convenience.

Example

using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using System;

// Assume 'services' is an IServiceCollection configured with registrations
var serviceProvider = services.BuildServiceProvider();

// Get an instance of a registered service
var myService = serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IMyService));

if (myService != null)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Successfully resolved IMyService.");
    // Use myService...
}
else
{
    Console.WriteLine("IMyService is not registered.");
}

// Using the generic GetService (if available through extensions)
// var genericService = serviceProvider.GetService<IMyService>();
            