While prototyping a generic form generator, I found success when using Type.GetType() to get a System.Type instance.  I passed in the string name of the “Type” I wished to inspect, for instance:

Type type = Type.GetType("MyNamespace.MyClass");
// List of properties that belong to the given Type
PropertyInfo[] itemTypeProperties = type.GetProperties();
// Object property
PropertyInfo property;
// Loop through the properties of the specified Type
for(int i = 0; i < itemTypeProperties.Length; i++ )
{
   ...make some labels and form fields
}

The class MyNamespace.MyClass was defined in a sepecate .cs file within the same project as the Form where I called the above code.  Everything worked great!

I wanted to move the class .cs file to its own project as it will be reused by more than one project (aah!  good, eh) but, when I did, the above code failed.  ...but, for why?!

I checked that the reference was appropriately made to the new project and that the build order and dependencies were correct but I got a null reference after the line:
Type type = Type.GetType("MyNamespace.MyClass");

I then tried the following.

// Get an instance of the desired class
MyNamespace.MyClass MyInstance = new MyNamespace.MyClass;
// Get the Type from the class instance
Type type = MyInstance.GetType();
// ...continue as before
// List of properties that belong to the given Type
PropertyInfo[] itemTypeProperties = type.GetProperties();
// Object property
PropertyInfo property;
// Loop through the properties of the specified Type
for(int i = 0; i < itemTypeProperties.Length; i++ )
{
   ...make some labels and form fields
}

For the life of me, I can't figure out why moving a file outside the project causes a failure.  I assume there is something I am missing about assembly inspection that is probably quite obvious.  If I figure it out, I'll post a follow up.  If you figure it out, tell me why I'm dumb