CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#genericsinheritanceparameterspolymorphism
John R
John R

Reputation: 3

C# how to inherit generic method with differing number of required parameters

When inheriting a method with a generic parameter in C#, what's the best way to handle cases where no parameter is actually required in the child class? For example, I'd like to do something like this: 

public abstract class Parent { 
    protected abstract void Load<T>(T param); 
}
public class Child : Parent {
    protected override void Load() {}
}

If something like this isn't possible, is there a suggested standard practice for specifying T in cases where it's not actually required? Do I just set to something like bool and ignore the value? 

child.Load<bool>(false);

Upvotes: 0

Views: 119

Answers (1)

D Stanley
D Stanley

Reputation: 152521

When overriding a function you have to keep the same number (and types) of parameters. You can overload the parent method but not override it:

public abstract class Parent { 
    protected abstract void Load<T>(T param); 
}
public class Child : Parent {
    protected void Load() {}
    protected override void Load<T>(T param) { // do nothing? }
}

However this is a code smell to me - making Load<T> abstract essentially tells implementers that they must implement this method, but this class feels it does not need to do so. If code within Parent expects Load<T> to be properly overridden; how will it know that Child implements some other flavor of Load?

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions