Updating a Struct property inside a Class - c#

I know that a Struct is a value type and a Class is reference type, however I cannot seem to get around this issue.
I have a class that has a list of a struct:
public class Basket
{
string ID{get; set;}
List<Fruit> fruits{get;set;}
public struct Fruit
{
string Name{get;set;}
bool IsFresh;
}
}
when passing a class instance to another class I want to update one of the Structs' IsFresh property but the code just skips it:
public class Customer
{
public string Name{get;set;}
public Basket Basket{get;set;}
public Customer(string name, Basket basket)
{
this.Name = name;
this.Basket = basket;
}
public ChangeBasket()
{
//CODE THAT IS NOT WORKING
Basket.Fruits[0].IsFresh = false;
}
}
The same referenced class is being modified and the valued structs should be updated.
why is that not working?

You should not generally write mutable structs. Instead, assign a whole new struct. See here. Basically what's happening is that you're modifying a copy of your struct, as it is a value type.

First of all, you have some problems with access modifiers(use public when you want to access your code outside your class\structs).
Your problem is due to the reason that structs are value types, so when you access a list element you will access a copy of the element which has been returned by the indexer's "getter" of the list and not the list itself.
That means if you try to update the instance, the update will not really influence a change on the "real" entity, but on the copied one and that's why you get a compilation error.

This basket.Fruits[0].IsFresh = false;
should be:
Basket.fruits[0].IsFresh = false;
Does that fix it?

It seems you can't use the indexer when the list is a list of structs.
the following code works:
var x = Basket.Fruits[0];
x.IsFresh = false;

Related

Is there any way to implement a get method inside a class in C#?

I would like to know if there is any way to implement a get method inside a class?
public class Element: IWebElement
{
IWebElement realElement;
//Question point is this get{}
//Everytime I access the instance of this class this get would be called
get
{
//This 'realElement' is not present yet
//So I cannot initialize it
//But when the properties of this class are accessed
//I'm telling the get method that it's time to initialize 'realElement'
realElement = webDriver.FindElement(...);
Visible = element.Visible;
return this;
}
public bool Visible {get; set;}
}
public class AnotherClass()
{
public void AccessElement()
{
Element element = new Element();
if(element.Visible) // At this point the 'element'
{
}
}
}
Usage:
I cannot initialize every property with their own get, because they are too many
Everytime I access the instance of this class this get would be called
If that could be done you'd be in trouble returning this since that would then access the instance, which would call the method, which would then access the instance, which would call the method… and so on until you get a StackOverflowException (or if it got tail-call optimised, forever).
More generally the question doesn't make sense.
A get method is a method identified as being the getter of a property. When C# is compiled to CIL then properties with getters are compiled so that there is a .property declaration with a .get declaration that refers to that method. If C# decided to change the rules to have getters on classes, it wouldn't have any corresponding CIL to compile it to.
The closest thing to a getter on a class in .NET is a default property, which in C# you can only have (and will always have) on a property called this (it becomes what is visible to other .NET languages or reflection property called Item), but it must have an indexer, and it does still exist as a property rather than with the getter directly applied to the class.
You could use the constructor, so it will be called everytime instance of object will be created.
public class Element()
{
public Element(){
AnyProperty = ""; //some value initialize
}
}
Added this new answer with my old answer because I got downvoted for trying to answer your original code which is now really different. Sheesh.
Usage: I cannot initialize every property with their own get, because
they are too many
So, this is actually not how you usually use get. Get is used mostly for access to a private method, or with a little logic, and oftentimes for data-binding such as in MVVM, etc.
I think your wording is not accurate. You said
Everytime I access the instance of this class this get would be called
But based on your code, what you mean is "Everytime I instantiate a class". The only thing you really need is a constructor.
public class Element: IWebElement
{
IWebElement realElement;
public bool Visible {get; set;}
public Element()
{
realElement = webDriver.FindElement(...);
Visible = element.Visible;
}
}
Old answer:
You're probably thinking of the Singleton Pattern
EDIT: This originally answered original question's code, seen below.
public class Element()
{
//Question point is this get{}
//Everytime I access the instance of this class this get would be called
get{
return this;
}
public string AnyProperty {get; set;}
}
public class AnotherClass()
{
public void AccessElement()
{
Element element = new Element();
element.AnyProperty = "";
}
}

Issue with private set in list properties

I have this piece of code:
public List<IVehicle> Vehicles { get; private set; }
My question is even though i am using a private set, why i can still add values to this list.
With private Set, you can't set the list to some new list from outside of your class. For example if you have a this list in a class:
class SomeClass
{
public List<IVehicle> Vehicles { get; private set; }
}
then while using:
SomeClass obj = new SomeClass();
obj.Vehicles = new List<IVehicle>(); // that will not be allowed.
// since the property is read-only
It doesn't prevent you assessing the Add method on the list. e.g.
obj.Vehicles.Add(new Vehicle()); // that is allowed
To return a Read-Only list you may look into List.AsReadOnly Method
Because private set; will not allow you to set list directly but you still can call methods of this list as it is using getter. You may want to use next:
//use this internally
private List<IVehicle> _vehicles;
public ReadOnlyCollection<IVehicle> Vehicles
{
get { return _vehicles.AsReadOnly(); }
}
.Add() is a function on the class List<> so after you get the list you can call the function. You can't replace the list with another one.
You could return an IEnumerable<IVehicle> that would make the list (sortof) readonly.
Calling .AsReadOnly() on the list would result in a really readonly list
private List<IVehicle> vehicles;
public IEnumerable<IVehicle> Vehicles
{
get { return vehicles.AsReadOnly(); }
private set { vehicles = value; }
}
When use use a private set what that means is that the property itself is un-setable from outside the class, not that it's methods are not available, and List<T>.Add() is only a method that the compiler knows nothing about.
By example:
public class VehicleContainer{
public List<IVehicle> Vehicles { get; private set; }
...
}
....
VehicleContainer vc = new VehicleContainer();
vc.Vehicles = new List<IVehicle>() // this is an error, because of the private set
int x = vc.Vehicles.Count; // this is legal, property access
vc.Vehicles.Add(new Vehicle()); //this is legal, method call
Take a look at this question, where use of the ReadOnlyCollection class is explained in the case when you want to restrict access to the collection itself, as well as the reference to the collection.
Getters and setters works on instances; not on properties of instances. An example;
Vehicles = new List<IVehicle>(); //// this is not possible
but if there is an instance it is possible to change its properties.
You can only instantiate it inside the containing class / struct of the List<IVehicle>. But once you have an instance, you can add items to it even outside, since the object is publicly visible.

Implementing a class from 2 interfaces that share some parts

Is the following not a good practice?
public interface IMyImmutableData
{
int Data { get;}
}
public interface IMyMutableData
{
int Data { set;get;}//implements both get and set
}
public class MyData : IMyImmutableData, IMyMutableData
{
public int Data{get;set;} //implements both IMyImmutableData, IMyMutableData
}
void Main()
{
MyData myData = new MyData{Data=10};
Console.WriteLine(myData.Data);
}
The reason I ask is that resharper gives me the following warning: "possible ambiguity while accessing by this interface"
The reason I want to do the above is that when I create methods that use the MyData class, I would like to send it either as IMyMutable or IMyImmutable objects, so that users of the method know that they can expect the method to update or not update the passed in object.
I think you can ignore resharper's warning, as the ambiguity is intentional.
However, usually a wrapper class is used to provide readonly access to something, that way it can't be cast to anything that does provide more functionality.
public class MyReadonlyData : IMyReadonlyData {
private MyData instance;
public int Data {
get {
return instance.Data;
}
}
public MyReadonlyData( MyData mydata ) {
instance = mydata;
}
}
// no access to original object or setters, period.
You need to make one or both of the implementations explicit:
public int IMyImmutableData.Data { get; }
public int IMyMutableData.Data { get; set; }
When you mark one as explicit, it can only be accessed when specifically cast as that type:
MyData obj = new MyData();
obj.Data; // Doesnt exist
(obj as IMyImmutableData).Data // Exists, specifically cast as this interface
If you choose to not mark one as explicit, it will be the property chosen when cast as other appropriate types.
I think in this case your structure is fine. You don't want to explicitly implement the interfaces via separate properties, because then the Data you access via the immutable interface will actually be different than that for the mutable interface.
Also, your actual code is likely more complex, because in this case there is no ambiguity: you are accessing Data via the object itself, so interfaces need not be considered.
One solution with explicit interface implementation would be to use a common backing field, rather than auto-properties:
private int _data;
public int IMyImmutableData.Data
{
get
{
return this._data;
}
}
public int IMyMutableData.Data
{
get
{
return this._data;
}
set
{
this._data = value;
}
}
You could cast the variable and tell the compiler what exactly you mean: (resolve ambiguity)
MyData myData = new MyData{Data=10};
Console.WriteLine( ((IMyMutableData)(myData)).Data );
You need a combined interface with a "new" qualifier on the read-write interface to avoid the squawk. Further, your interfaces are poorly named. Better names would be something like "IReadableData" and "IWritableData", and "IReadWriteData". Note that while "IReadableData" does not provide any means of mutating the data, that by no stretch of the imagination implies that the data is immutable. If something is immutable it won't every be changed by anyone; that would clearly not be the case with an object of type MyData.

can we access properties from constructor

I am working on a CSharp code where in constructor i need to access properties of that class. Logically it looks troublesome to me since i will be accessing properties of the object that hasn't is still under construction.
Its an old code using c# version 4.0 and i am kind of refactoring it so that's why can't redesign everything from scratch.
Thanks
class employee
{
employee()
{
int square = count * count;
}
private int count {get;set;}
}
There is nothing wrong with that, except that count will always be 0.
There is (almost) no such thing as a "partially-constructed" object in .Net, except for an object that hasn't set all of its state in the constructor.
If you're constructing the class, and none of the properties have been set previously in the constructor and none of the properties are static and set elsewhere, the values will be default or null, so there's no point getting what they contain. Otherwise, the constructor is the perfect place to set your properties to something.
At construction time you may set a property, but unless it has a static member backing the getting or is a value type, you will get a null value until you set it.
public class WhatClass
{
public WhatClass()
{
int theCount = Count; // This will set theCount to 0 because int is a value type
AProperty = new SomeOtherClass; // This is fine because the setter is totally usable
SomeOtherClass thisProperty = AProperty; // This is completely acceptable because you just gave AProperty a value;
thisProperty = AnotherProperty; // Sets thisProperty to null because you didn't first set the "AnotherProperty" to have a value
}
public int Count { get; set; }
public SomeOtherClass AProperty { get; set; }
public SomeOtherClass AnotherProperty { get; set; }
}
Yes, C# allow this, but sometime better to have private field which is wrapped by public property and in class method work only with field. In your case I would recommend to remove private property and use class field variable instead. If consumers of your class potentially may want to access a property - make it public with a private setter, this kind of autmatic property is an other alternative for privatr field wrapped by a property.

Checking if any property has been assigned a value

I have a type SearchBag that holds a bunch of strings and nullable integers to use for passing on search values. I need a way to check if the search bag contains any values.
I'm currently trying to do it like this:
public bool HasValues()
{
return GetType().GetProperties().Any(p => p.GetValue(this, null) != null);
}
But was wondering if there's a better way.
Without modifying the SearchBag type, there isn't a better way.
EDIT: You could change the type to set a boolean flag in every property setter, then check the flag instead of using Reflection.
You could use Post Sharp to intercept the request to change a property value. You could have all search classes inherit from a common class with a List<string>. Then create an aspect attribute to add a property name to that dictionary whenever the value changes. The following is just a sample, and has bugs:
[Serializable]
public class PropertyChangeAwareAttribute : OnMethodBoundaryAspect
{
public override void OnEntry(MethodExecutionEventArgs eventArgs)
{
if (eventArgs.Method.Name.StartsWith("set_"))
((SearchBagBase)eventArgs.Instance).PropertiesChanged.Add(eventArgs.Method.Name);
base.OnEntry(eventArgs);
}
}
abstract class SearchBagBase
{
public List<string> PropertiesChanged = new List<String>();
}
[PropertyChangeAware]
class RegularSearch : SearchBagBase
{
public String Key { get; set; }
}
with usage:
RegularSearch regularSearch = new RegularSearch();
regularSearch.Key = "toys";
regularSearch.PropertiesChanged.ForEach(Console.WriteLine);

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