Beginning Visual C#® 2005

10

Defining Class Members

In this chapter, I continue the discussion of class definitions in C# by looking at how you define field, property, and method class members.

You start by looking at the code required for each of these types, and also look at how to generate the structure of this code using VS wizards. You also see how you can modify members quickly by editing their properties.

When you've covered the basics of member definition you'll take a look at some more advanced techniques involving members: hiding base class members, calling overridden base class members, nested type definitions, and partial class definitions.

Finally, you put theory into practice and create a class library that you can build on and use in later chapters.

In this chapter, you:

• Learn about field, property, and method class members
• Create a class library

Member Definitions

Within a class definition, you provide definitions for all members of the class, including fields, methods, and properties. All members have their own accessibility level, defined in all cases by one of the following keywords:

• public: Member is accessible from any code
• private: Member is accessible only from code that is part of the class (the default if no keyword is used)
• internal: Member is accessible only from code within the project (assembly) where it is defined
• protected: Member accessible only from code that is part of either the class or a derived class

The last two of these can be combined, so protected internal