There is small problem using Dictionary, Some times custom class that you create new instance they inherit several interfaces.

I using IList : TheList.OfType(the Interface)

I think they use weak references (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.weakreference.aspx)
But I guess that’s the benefit of having a custom service locator class – if you don’t need the logic for instance lifetime management then you can leave it out.

you are quite right: providing a method to register services is really the way to go for a complete service locator implementation.

In my specific case I had more limited requirements, having full control of the services that had to be instantiated at run time. So I preferred to “keep it simple”.

About disposing of the services when not needed… well I admit that I hadn’t put much thought into that. I doubt that the service locator itself could/should implement some sort of reference counting.

It would be interesting to investigate whether mature service locator implementations (Castle Windsor, Spring.NET, StructureMap, etc…) have tackled this kind of problem and how they solved it.

Why have you chosen to register services within the class instead of providing it as a public method?

I like the idea of the lazy loading but was wondering, is there a way for the services to be disposed (or unreferenced) when they’re no longer referenced by anything other than the ServiceLocator?

Thanks .