CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#propertiesinterface
Moslem Ben Dhaou
Moslem Ben Dhaou

Reputation: 7005

Workaround to force private access modifier on implemented interface property

I have and interface as follow:

public interface IData
{
    String Name { get; set; }
}

And a 2 classes that implements it:

public class Data1 : IData
{
    public String Name { get; set; }
}

public class Data2 : IData
{
    public String Name { get; set; }
}

I need to prevent getting the Name of a Data2 instance. The compiler does not allow all following forms:

internal String Name { get; set; }
private String Name { get; set; }
public String Name { private get; set; }

I do understand the logical reason why this is not explicitly possible. Properties will be accessed using the interface which does not have any clue about implemented access modifiers and will fail if it can't find it.

My use case is that both Data1 and Data2 instances should be able to use methods where an IData parameter is used (some of the methods where no use of Name exist), but Data2 is sensitive and should not be accessed directly. Therefore I am looking for a workaround.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 579

Answers (2)

Cory Nelson
Cory Nelson

Reputation: 29981

The compiler doesn't allow the types implementing this interface to change this, because you ask it not to. You defined an interface which has a public getter and setter.

public interface IData
{
    String Name { get; set; }
}

It sounds like you need two interfaces:

public interface ISettableData
{
    String Name { set; }
}

public interface IData : ISettableData
{
    String Name { get; set; }
}

And the implementation:

public class Data1 : IData
{
    public String Name { get; set; }
}

public class Data2 : ISettableData
{
    public String Name { set; }
}

Upvotes: 2

JaredPar
JaredPar

Reputation: 754575

It sounds like you want the access of Name through instances of Data2 to be disallowed. If that is the case then use an explicit interface implementation

public class Data2 : IData {
  String IData.Name { 
    get { ... } 
    set { ... } 
  }
}

Now Name will only be accessible when Data2 instances are viewed as IData

Data2 obj = new Data2();
string name = obj.Name; // Error!
IData other = obj;
name = other.Name;  // Ok

Upvotes: 5

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