CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#propertiesalias
ATL_DEV
ATL_DEV

Reputation: 9591

Does c# offer a direct way to alias a property name?

Does c# (any version) offer an improved way to alias a property name? In AccountBase, I use the string Username to identify the account, but in NonstandardAccount I want the client (consumer of the API) to use CustomerNumber to prevent confusion.

Here is my code:

public abstract class AccountBase
{
    public string Username { get => Username; set => Username = value; }
}

public class StandardAccount
{
    // The username is the ID
}


public class NonstandardAccount : AccountBase
{
    // The Username or CustomerNumber is the ID
    public string CustomerNumber { get => Username; set => Username = value; }

    // OR ideally, but I don't think this works
    public string CustomerNumber => Username; 
}

I could forgo adding a CustomerNumber property and just document that it is the same as the Username, but it isn't clear. I could just leave my implementation as is, but extra storage for the sake of clarity may not be a good tradeoff.

Upvotes: 6

Views: 2774

Answers (1)

ATL_DEV
ATL_DEV

Reputation: 9591

Thanks to Patrick Artner, I found not only an answer, but the ideal answer. It was right in my source code all along, but I didn't trust my intuition. 

public class NonstandardAccount : AccountBase
{
    // Does work and works perfectly! Username is still accessible
    public string CustomerNumber => Username; 
}

A new hard learnt lesson: Just because your intuition was wrong on many occasions, doesn't mean you should discredit it as a pathological liar.

Upvotes: 6

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