#619 – Calling the Constructor in a Base Class

July 4, 2012 2 Comments

Because a derived class does not inherit any of the constructors of the base class, it must do all of the initialization that the base class normally does.  It normally does this by using the base keyword to call the constructor of the base class.

    public class Dog
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }

        public Dog(string name)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("In Dog constructor");
            Name = name;
        }
    }

    public class Terrier : Dog
    {
        public string Temperament { get; set; }

        public Terrier(string name, string temperament) : base(name)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("In Terrier constructor");
            Temperament = temperament;
        }
    }

In the example above, the sequence when creating a Terrier object is:

  • Client code passes in name and temperament
  • Terrier constructor invokes the Dog constructor using the base keyword and passing the name parameter
  • Dog constructor does its initialization
  • Terrier constructor does its initialization

 

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#331 – Calling a Base Class Constructor Implicitly vs. Explicitly

May 24, 2011 Leave a comment

In a derived class, you can call a constructor in the base class explicitly using the base keyword.

    public class Terrier : Dog
    {
        public string Attitude { get; set; }

        public Terrier(string name, int age, string attitude)
            : base(name, age)
        {
            Attitude = attitude;
        }

If you don’t explicitly call a base class constructor, the default (parameterless) constructor is called implicitly.

        public Terrier(string name, int age, string attitude)
        {
            // Default Dog constructor has already been called
            //   at this point.
            Name = name;
            Age = age;
            Attitude = attitude;
        }

If you do omit the base keyword, the base class must define a default (parameterless) constructor.  If it doesn’t, the compiler will complain that the base class doesn’t have a constructor that takes 0 arguments.

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#330 – Derived Classes Do Not Inherit Constructors

May 23, 2011 Leave a comment

A derived class inherits all of the members of a base class except for its constructors.

You must define a constructor in a derived class unless the base class has defined a default (parameterless) constructor.  If you don’t define a constructor in the derived class, the default constructor in the base class is called implicitly.

When you define a constructor in a derived class, you can call a constructor in the base class by using the base keyword.

Here’s an example:

    public class Dog
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public int Age { get; set; }

        public Dog(string name, int age)
        {
            Name = name;
            Age = age;
        }
    }

    public class Terrier : Dog
    {
        public string Attitude { get; set; }

        // Call the Name/Age constructor in the base class
        public Terrier(string name, int age, string attitude)
            : base(name, age)
        {
            Attitude = attitude;
        }
    }

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#314 – Access Modifiers Are Not Allowed on Static Constructors

April 29, 2011 Leave a comment

Because you can’t call a static constructor directly, you can’t include an access modifier (e.g. public, private) when defining a static constructor.  Static constructors are defined without access modifiers.

        static Dog()
        {
            Motto = "We serve humans.  And lick ourselves.";
        }

The compiler will generate an error if you try to include an access modifier.

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#313 – Accessibility of Constructors in a Class

April 28, 2011 Leave a comment

You can apply access modifiers to instance constructors, dictating what code is allowed to create an instance of the class using a signature that matches the constructor.

  • public – All code has access
  • private – Only code in defining class has access
  • protected – Code in defining class or derived classes has access
  • internal – All code in defining assembly has access
  • protected internal – Code in defining assembly or in derived classes has access
        // All code
        public Dog(string name, int age)
        {
            Name = name;
            Age = age;
        }

        // Only code in this class has access
        private Dog()
        {
            Name = "UNKNOWN";
            Age = 0;
        }

        // Code in this class or subclass has access
        protected Dog(string name)
        {
            Name = name;
            Age = 1;
        }

        // Code in same assembly has access
        internal Dog(int age)
        {
            Name = "INTERNAL";
            Age = age;
        }

        // Code in same assembly or derived classes has access
        protected internal Dog(double age)
        {
            Age = (int)age;
        }

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#299 – Intellisense Shows You Available Constructors

April 12, 2011 Leave a comment

If you have several different constructors define for a class or a struct, Intellisense in Visual Studio will show you the different constructors that you can use.

Assume that you have a Dog class, with two different constructors, as follows:

    public class Dog
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public int Age { get; set; }

        public Dog(string name, int age)
        {
            Name = name;
            Age = age;
        }

        public Dog(string name)
            : this(name, 1)
        {
        }
    }

Because we have these two constructors, we can pass in either one or two parameters when using the new operator to construct a new instance of a Dog.

            Dog d1 = new Dog("Lassie");
            Dog d2 = new Dog("Django", 6);

Visual Studio will tell us, through Intellisense, that there are two constructors available.  Once the constructor signature pops up, you can use the arrow keys to cycle through the two options.

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#295 – When Is a Static Constructor Called?

April 8, 2011 Leave a comment

You cannot dictate when a static constructor will be called and you can’t call it directly.

More specifically, a static constructor will be called just before you do one of the following:

  • Create an instance of the type
  • Access any static data in the type
  • Start executing Main method (in the same class as the static constructor)

If we have the following implementation in the Dog class:

        public Dog(string name)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Dog constructor");
            Name = name;
        }

        public static string Motto = "Wag all the time";

        static Dog()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Static Dog constructor");
        }

And we create a Dog instance:

 Console.WriteLine("Here 1");
 Dog d1 = new Dog("Kirby");
 Console.WriteLine("Here 2");

We get this output (static constructor called before object instantiation):

Or if we access static data:

            Console.WriteLine("Here 1");
            string s = Dog.Motto;
            Console.WriteLine("Here 2");

The output is (static constructor called before accessing static data):

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