CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#
prosseek
prosseek

Reputation: 190799

typedef emulation in C#

I have a field variable named uid in a class. The type is int, but I want to open the possibility that I change it long or short.

With C++, typedef is the one for this purpose, but I see C# doesn't have typedef.

Is there a way to mimic typedef in C#?

Upvotes: 4

Views: 787

Answers (10)

Doug
Doug

Reputation: 1

Here is a simple solution that helped.

    using typedef = System.Int32;

     class MyTypeDef
     {
          typedef ERROR, TRUE=1, FALSE=0;
          public int MyMethod()
          {
              if(this is an error condition)
              {
                 ERROR = TRUE;
              }
              else
              {
                  ERROR = FALSE;
              }
              return ERROR;
          } // end MyMethod
      } // end MyTypeDef

Upvotes: 0

Ahmad Mageed
Ahmad Mageed

Reputation: 96477

I think you're trying to alias the type. If so, you can alias it via the using alias directive. You must specify the fully qualified type (the entire namespace) when assigning an alias.

For example:

using System;
using MyAlias = System.Int32;

namespace UsingAlias
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            MyAlias temp = Math.Min(10, 5);
            Console.WriteLine(temp);

            MyAlias result = MyAlias.Parse("42");
            Console.WriteLine(result);
        }
    }
}

Upvotes: 9

3Dave
3Dave

Reputation: 29051

You could always use generics:

public class Foo<T>
{
  public T MyField { get; set; } 
}

public class FooInt : Foo<int>
{
}

public class FooShort : Foo<short>
{
}

or, just change it later on.

/// want an int
public class Foo
{
  public int MyField { get; set; } 
}

/// and just change it later on:
public class Foo
{
  public short MyField { get; set; } 

}

Upvotes: 1

tvanfosson
tvanfosson

Reputation: 532455

Encapsulate it in it's own class (or a struct, if more appropriate).

public class UID
{
    public int Value { get; set; }
}

Write your methods in terms of your UID class, limiting the exposure to the actual value type to the smallest subset of code necessary.

publc class Entity
{
     public UID ID { get; set; }

     public void Foo( UID otherID )
     {
         if (otherID.Value == this.ID.Value)
         {
             ...
         }
     }
}
}

Upvotes: 2

Saif al Harthi
Saif al Harthi

Reputation: 2974

See this , he uses Operator Overloading

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/csharplanguage/thread/019a258e-8d50-4a9f-b0ef-8311208ebb6a/

Upvotes: 0

Doc Brown
Doc Brown

Reputation: 20044

Define a struct with just one field

  public struct ID_Type
  {
      public long Id;
  };

and use it whereever you need it.

If you have just one class where the ID type is needed, you can also try to make this class a generic class with the UID type being a type parameter.

Upvotes: 1

Mr. TA
Mr. TA

Reputation: 5359

Make it a struct:

struct Uid { public int Value; }

Upvotes: 3

Bruno Brant
Bruno Brant

Reputation: 8564

Wouldn't the result be the same if you used int and then changed it later on?

Upvotes: 0

Greg D
Greg D

Reputation: 44066

Try making a class. It's like a typedef on steroids, and you can change the internal representation as much as you want without affecting the interface!

You could even make it a guid!

Upvotes: 8

to StackOverflow
to StackOverflow

Reputation: 124696

Is there a way to mimic typedef in C#

No

to solve my problem

What problem?

Upvotes: -2

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