Chapter 12

Classes:
Access Modifiers
Static Members
Overloaded Methods

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 1
Instantiation – State – Initializers – Reference Type
✓ Instantiation: The process of creating an object.
✓ A constructor is executed to initialize the data.
✓ State: the data that makes up an object is referred to as the object’s state.
❖ Once an object has been instantiated, its state can change.
❖ The state changes whenever you change the value of one of
the object’s properties or public fields.
❖ The state can change when you call a method that affects the data.
❖ You can create two or more instances (objects) of the same class. Each
has its own state.
✓ Object Initializers: create an instance of an object and assign values
without explicitly calling a constructor with parameters.
✓ A class defines a reference type. The variable used to access an object
instantiated from a class contains the address of the object (in memory),
not the actual object.

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 2
Code using Object Initializers (option 3 below)
Assume a class called Student with properties ID (int), Name (string)
and Fulltime (bool). Assume 2 constructors:
public Student(){} // default
public Student(int, string, bool) // 1 parameter for each field

Options to instantiate (create an object):

// call default const
1) Student s1 = new Student();

// call custom const

2) Student s2 = new Student(24, “Jan”, true);

// call def const and initializes (calls set of property)

3) Student s3 = new Student {ID = 17, Name = “bob”,
Fulltime = false};

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 3
Field (variable defined at class level) Declarations
private int quantity; // A private field
public decimal price; // A public field
public readonly int limit = 90; // A public read-only field

Access Modifiers:
Private → can only be used in the class that defines it.
Public → can be accessed by other classes.
Others: introduced in chapter 14

Read-only field: Use keyword readonly in declaration

→ Similar to a constant whose value is set at compile time
→ Readonly value is set at run time
→ Field’s value can be retrieved but it cannot be changed
→ Its value can be set when you declare it (above) or in
the code for a constructor.

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 4
 The syntax for coding a public property
public type PropertyName
{
[get { get accessor code }]
[set { set accessor code }]
}
A read/write property Accessors:
public string Code Get → request to retrieve
property values
{
Set → request to set the
get { return code; } Property value
set { code = value; }
}
}

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 5
 Read-Only and Write-Only Properties
A read-only property – only has a get
public decimal DiscountAmount
{
get
{
discountAmount = subtotal * discountPercent;
return discountAmount;
}
}

A write-only property – only has a set

public decimal DiscountAmount
{
set
{
if (value > 99.9) discountAmount = value;
}
}

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 6
A read-only property
public decimal DiscountAmount
{
get
{
return subtotal * discountPercent;
}
}

The same property using an expression body

public decimal DiscountAmount => subtotal * discountPercent;

=>Lambda Operator (goes to).

Simplifies the code.
More in chapter 13.

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 7
 Overloading
Methods

✓ Code two or more methods with the same name but unique combinations
of parameters sent.
✓ Each overloaded method has a unique signature.
❖ Either a different number of parameters or
❖ At least one of the parameters has a different data type
❖ Names of parameters are not part of the signature
❖ Return type is not part of the signature for overloading
✓ WHY?
❖ More than one way to invoke/ call/ transfer execution to a method.

✓ When typing overloaded method, up and down arrows appear to the left
of the argument list to indicate the method is overloaded.

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 8
The syntax for coding a public method
public returnType MethodName([parameterList])
{
statements
}

A method that accepts parameters

public string GetDisplayText(string sep)
{
return code + sep + price.ToString("c") + sep
+ description;
}

An overloaded version of the method

public string GetDisplayText()
{
return code + ", " + price.ToString("c") + ", "
+ description;
}

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 9
Statements that call the GetDisplayText method
lblProduct.Text = product.GetDisplayText("\t");
lblProduct.Text = product.GetDisplayText();

How the IntelliSense feature lists

overloaded methods

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 10
 Constructor Rules
✓ Has same name as Class and can be overloaded
✓ Must have public as access modifier
✓ Cannot specify a return type
✓ Constructor with no executable statements → uses default values below
✓ Can call another method to set initial values

Data type Default value

All numeric types 0
Boolean false
Char null
Object null
Date 12:00 a.m. on January 1, 0001

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 11
A constructor with no parameters
public Product()
{
}

A constructor with three parameters

public Product(string incode, string indescription,
decimal inprice)
{
Code =incode;
Description = indescription;
Price = inprice;
}

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 12
A constructor with one parameter
public Product(string incode)
{
Product p = ProductDB.GetProduct(incode);
this.Code = p.Code;
this.Description = p.Description;
this.Price = p.Price;
}

Statements that call these constructors

Product product1 = new Product();
Product product2 = new Product("CS15",
"Murach's C# 2015", 56.50m);
Product product3 = new Product(txtCode.Text);

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 13
 Static Members
✓ Members of a class include fields, properties and methods.
✓ Static members can be accessed without creating an instance of a class.

public class Student

{
private int a;
private static int b = 1000;
}

✓ Put static keyword on member declaration.

✓ Useful for incrementing a unique property (retains the value).
✓ Constants by definition are static, cannot put keyword static with const.

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 14
 Static Class
✓ More common → static and non-static members of classes.
✓ You cannot access a static member from the variable that refers to the
instance of the class (object). You access it only by coding the name of the
class.
✓ Static class:
❖ Only has static members and methods
❖ Cannot be instantiated
❖ Cannot be inherited further
❖ Useful for helper or utility methods that are generic in nature (data
validation, file access)

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 15
A class that contains static members
public static class Validator
{
private static string title = "Entry Error";

public static string Title

{
get
{
return title;
}
set
{
title = value;
}
}

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 16
A class that contains static members (cont.)
public static bool IsPresent(TextBox textBox)
{
if (textBox.Text == "")
{
MessageBox.Show(textBox.Tag
+ " is a required field.", Title);
textBox.Focus();
return false;
}
return true;
}

Textbox.Tag property can be

useful to store the name of what is
stored in the textbox ie. Code

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 17
Code that uses static members
if ( Validator.IsPresent(txtCode) &&
Validator.IsPresent(txtDescription) &&
Validator.IsPresent(txtPrice) )
isValidData = true;
else
isValidData = false;

A using directive for the Validator class

using static ProductMaintenance.Validator;

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 18
Using live code analysis to generate a class
-Right-click: Quick Action

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 19
Using live code analysis
to generate a method stub

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 20
A class diagram that shows two of the classes

Found under
Solution
Explorer
(once installed)

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 21
A Peek Definition window with the code for
the GetDisplayText method:
Right-click on member (method or property) in
Code window, select Peek Definition

© 2016, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's C# 2015 C12, Slide 22