How to do constructor chaining in C#

user_205930 0
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I know that this is supposedly a super simple question, but I've been struggling with the concept for some time now.

My question is, how do you chain constructors in C#?

I'm in my first OOP class, so I'm just learning. I don't understand how constructor chaining works or how to implement it or even why it's better than just doing constructors without chaining.

I would appreciate some examples with an explanation.

So how do how chain them?
I know with two it goes:

public SomeClass this: {0}

public SomeClass
{
    someVariable = 0
}

But how do you do it with three, four and so on?

Again, I know this is a beginner question, but I'm struggling to understand this and I don't know why.

constructor-chaining constructor c#
9 Answers

I just want to bring up a valid point to anyone searching for this. If you are going to work with .NET versions before 4.0 (VS2010), please be advised that you have to create constructor chains as shown above.

However, if you're staying in 4.0, I have good news. You can now have a single constructor with optional arguments! I'll simplify the Foo class example:

class Foo {
  private int id;
  private string name;

  public Foo(int id = 0, string name = "") {
    this.id = id;
    this.name = name;
  }
}

class Main() {
  // Foo Int:
  Foo myFooOne = new Foo(12);
  // Foo String:
  Foo myFooTwo = new Foo(name:"Timothy");
  // Foo Both:
  Foo myFooThree = new Foo(13, name:"Monkey");
}

When you implement the constructor, you can use the optional arguments since defaults have been set.

I hope you enjoyed this lesson! I just can't believe that developers have been complaining about construct chaining and not being able to use default optional arguments since 2004/2005! Now it has taken SO long in the development world, that developers are afraid of using it because it won't be backwards compatible.

user_3731940

All those answers are good, but I'd like to add a note on constructors with a little more complex initializations.

class SomeClass {
    private int StringLength;
    SomeClass(string x) {
         // this is the logic that shall be executed for all constructors.
         // you dont want to duplicate it.
         StringLength = x.Length;
    }
    SomeClass(int a, int b): this(TransformToString(a, b)) {
    }
    private static string TransformToString(int a, int b) {
         var c = a + b;
         return $"{a} + {b} = {c}";
    }
}

Allthogh this example might as well be solved without this static function, the static function allows for more complex logic, or even calling methods from somewhere else.

user_16359060
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