How to define abstract properties - C# (original) (raw)

The following example shows how to define abstract properties. An abstract property declaration does not provide an implementation of the property accessors -- it declares that the class supports properties, but leaves the accessor implementation to derived classes. The following example demonstrates how to implement the abstract properties inherited from a base class.

This sample consists of three files, each of which is compiled individually and its resulting assembly is referenced by the next compilation:

abstractshape.cs: the Shape class that contains an abstract Area property.
shapes.cs: The subclasses of the Shape class.
shapetest.cs: A test program to display the areas of some Shape-derived objects.

To compile the example, use the following command:

csc abstractshape.cs shapes.cs shapetest.cs

This will create the executable file shapetest.exe.

Examples

This file declares the Shape class that contains the Area property of the type double.

// compile with: csc -target:library abstractshape.cs
public abstract class Shape
{
    public Shape(string s)
    {
        // calling the set accessor of the Id property.
        Id = s;
    }

    public string Id { get; set; }

    // Area is a read-only property - only a get accessor is needed:
    public abstract double Area
    {
        get;
    }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        return $"{Id} Area = {Area:F2}";
    }
}

Modifiers on the property are placed on the property declaration itself. For example:

public abstract double Area

When declaring an abstract property (such as Area in this example), you simply indicate what property accessors are available, but do not implement them. In this example, only a get accessor is available, so the property is read-only.

The following code shows three subclasses of Shape and how they override the Area property to provide their own implementation.

// compile with: csc -target:library -reference:abstractshape.dll shapes.cs
public class Square : Shape
{
    private int _side;

    public Square(int side, string id)
        : base(id)
    {
        _side = side;
    }

    public override double Area
    {
        get
        {
            // Given the side, return the area of a square:
            return _side * _side;
        }
    }
}

public class Circle : Shape
{
    private int _radius;

    public Circle(int radius, string id)
        : base(id)
    {
        _radius = radius;
    }

    public override double Area
    {
        get
        {
            // Given the radius, return the area of a circle:
            return _radius * _radius * Math.PI;
        }
    }
}

public class Rectangle : Shape
{
    private int _width;
    private int _height;

    public Rectangle(int width, int height, string id)
        : base(id)
    {
        _width = width;
        _height = height;
    }

    public override double Area
    {
        get
        {
            // Given the width and height, return the area of a rectangle:
            return _width * _height;
        }
    }
}

The following code shows a test program that creates a number of Shape-derived objects and prints out their areas.

// compile with: csc -reference:abstractshape.dll;shapes.dll shapetest.cs
class TestClass
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Shape[] shapes =
        [
            new Square(5, "Square #1"),
            new Circle(3, "Circle #1"),
            new Rectangle( 4, 5, "Rectangle #1")
        ];

        Console.WriteLine("Shapes Collection");
        foreach (Shape s in shapes)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(s);
        }
    }
}
/* Output:
    Shapes Collection
    Square #1 Area = 25.00
    Circle #1 Area = 28.27
    Rectangle #1 Area = 20.00
*/

How to define abstract properties - C# (original) (raw)

Examples

See also