#284 – Static Methods Can Call Instance Methods

March 28, 2011 1 Comment

Static methods can call instance methods in a class–provided that they have access to a reference to an instance of the class.

In the example below, we have a static method of the Dog class that dumps out a bunch of information about every Dog instance in a collection of dogs passed to it.

        public static void ListDogs(List<Dog> dogList, Cat cat)
        {
            foreach (Dog d in dogList)
            {
                string likes = d.LikesCat(cat) ? "Yes" : "No";

                Console.WriteLine("{0}: {1} yrs old.  Motto is [{2}]. Likes {3}? {4}",
                    d.Name,
                    d.Age,
                    d.Motto,
                    cat.Name,
                    likes);
            }
        }

Note that the static Dog method can also call an instance method of the Cat class.

Here’s how we might call this method:

            List<Dog> dogs = new List<Dog>();

            dogs.Add(new Dog("Kirby", 14, "Chase balls"));
            dogs.Add(new Dog("Jack", 17, "Lounge around house"));
            dogs.Add(new Dog("Ruby", 1, "Stare out window"));

            Cat morris = new Cat("Morris");

            Dog.ListDogs(dogs, morris);

Output:

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#283 – Instance Methods Can Call Static Methods

March 27, 2011 Leave a comment

Instance methods in a class can access static data or call static methods.  The instance method accesses static data or methods in the same way that other code does–by using the class name to qualify the data or method name.

Here’s an example, where the Dog.Bark instance method makes use of the private static Dog.FormatTheCreed method:

        // Static property -- one value for all dogs
        public static string Creed { get; set; }

        // Private static method to format our Dog creed
        private static string FormatTheCreed()
        {
            return string.Format("As dogs, we believe: {0}", Dog.Creed);
        }

        // Instance method, in which a Dog barks
        public void Bark()
        {
            // Dump out my name and the universal Dog creed.
            Console.WriteLine("{0}: 'Woof'!  (Creed: [{1}])", this.Name, Dog.FormatTheCreed());
        }

Calling the Bark method:

            // Set static property
            Dog.Creed = "We serve man";

            Dog kirby = new Dog("Kirby");
            kirby.Bark();

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#282 – Creating Private Static Methods

March 26, 2011 2 Comments

Like instance methods, static methods can be public or private.  A private static method is a method that works with the class’ static data, but is not visible from outside the class.

Below is an example of a private static method.  Note that it’s making use of some public static data.  It could also work with private static data.

        // Static property -- one value for all dogs
        public static string Creed { get; set; }

        // Public static method, to recite our creed
        public static void RepeatYourCreed(int numRepeats)
        {
            string creed = FormatTheCreed();

            for (int i = 0; i < numRepeats; i++)
                Console.WriteLine(creed);
        }

        // Private method to format our Dog creed
        private static string FormatTheCreed()
        {
            return string.Format("As dogs, we believe: {0}", Dog.Creed);
        }

We can call the public static method that makes use of this private method:

            // Set static property
            Dog.Creed = "We serve man";

            // Call static method
            Dog.RepeatYourCreed(3);

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#281 – Declaring and Using Static Methods in a Class

March 25, 2011 1 Comment

A static method in a class is similar to an instance method, except that it acts upon the class’ static data–fields and properties–rather than on the instance data stored with a single instance of the class.

There is only one copy of each static data item, no matter how many instances of the class exist.

Here’s an example of defining a static method in a class.

        // Static property -- one value for all dogs
        public static string Creed { get; set; }

        // Static method acts on static data
        public static void RepeatYourCreed(int numRepeats)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < numRepeats; i++)
                Console.WriteLine("My creed is: {0}", Creed);
        }

To call a static method, you just prefix the method with the name of the class (rather than with a reference to an instance of the class).

            // Set static property
            Dog.Creed = "We serve man";

            // Call static method
            Dog.RepeatYourCreed(3);

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