Reference Library for all C# .NET methods - c#

There are a lot of built in methods and properties in C# and .NET, such as Trim() and Length(). Where can I find a complete list of these methods and properties for built-in types?

If you need a reference of the .NET class library and all the classes and methods it provides, MSDN is almost definitely the single most useful online resource — See e.g. .NET Framework Class Library Overview (introduction) and .NET Framework Class Library (reference library).
If all that you need is a reference of .NET string methods, again:
Go on MSDN
Find the reference page for the System.String class
Browse to the bottom and follow the link to the class members page: there you are.

.Net doesn't have "functions", everything you've listed is a method that is called on an object. Some are called on instances of objects, and some are called on the static type of the object.
Having a list of all functions would be pointless without knowing what objects they are related to.
There are also many overloads for methods, so they can be called with different parameters.
So what you really need (if you want them all) is a table of Object, Static or instance method, Method, Overloads.

You can also browse the methods from Object browser using the visual studio 2005 or latest versions.

Related

How to hide C# class from custom IL Inspector?

I am currently working with a piece of software known as Kofax TotalAgility or KTA for short.
This is Business Process Automation Software, which I have the "pleasure" of expanding with custom .net libraries.
I have been creating a MS Graph library to perform actions with the MS Graph API. The API works great and I am quite pleased with how it turned out.
However due to the way KTA is accessing methods in classes I have used "Data classes" (dont know if that is the right word) to use as input parameters for my methods. To be clear these methods have no functionality other than to store data for methods to use, the reason I am doing this, is because of the way it is structured in the KTA class inspector (I am assuming that KTA uses the IL Code from my library to create a list of classes and methods).
This is what I am expecting the user is shown when they are using my methods. As you can see by using classes as input parameters I get this nice hierarchical structure.
By using classes as input parameters another issue occurs which is that my "Data Classes" are show in the list of classes, which produces alot of unnecessary clutter.
Is there a way to hide these classes from the inspector? I get that it might be an internal KTA issue, which of course would mean I am not asking in the right place, and it is an internal Kofax issue.
However if there is some C# or .NET way of doing this, that would be preferable.
There are a number of different terms for the data/parameter classes that you mention, such as DTO (data transfer objects), POCO (plain old C# objects), or the one that you can see in the KTA product dlls: model classes.
There is not a direct way to hide public classes from KTA. However, when you use the KTA API via the TotalAgility.Sdk.dll, you notice that you don’t see all of the parameter classes mixed in with the list of the classes that hold the SDK functions. The reason is just that these objects are in a separate referenced assembly: Agility.Sdk.Model.dll. When you are configuring a .NET activity/action in KTA, it will only list the classes directly in the assembly that you specify, not referenced assemblies.
If you are using local assembly references in KTA, then this should work because you can just have your referenced assembly in the same folder as your main dll. However if you are ILMerging into a single dll to can add it to the .NET assembly store, then this approach won’t work.
When ILMerged together, the best you can do is to have your parameter classes grouped in a namespace that helps make it clear. What I do is have a main project with just one class that acts as a wrapper for any functions I want to expose. Then use ILMerge with the internalize option, which changes visibility to internal for any types not in the primary assembly. To allow the model classes to still be public, I keep them in a specific namespace and add that namespace to the exclude list for the internalize command. See Internalizing Assemblies with ILMerge for more detail.
Keep in mind that anyone seeing this list is configuring a function call with your dll. Even if they are not a skilled developer, they should at least have some competence for this type of task (hopefully). So even if the list shows a bunch of model classes, it shouldn’t be too hard to follow instructions if you tell them which class is to be used.

How to give meaningful names to a C# and VB.NET project in the same solution with the same purpose?

I have two projects that contain extension methods. One project is implemented using C# and the other is implemented using VB.NET as there are some things I can do in VB.NET that I can't in C# and I want to leverage those features in my extension methods.
How can I name the projects to convey their meaning while at the same time differentiating that they are implemented in different languages?
For the C# elitists:
One of the features that VB.NET supports that C# doesn't:
Doesn't C# Extension Methods allow passing parameters by reference?
FYI: This doesn't work for reference types, which is what I'm interested in.
public static void LoadFromXml<T>(this T targetObject, string xml)
{
targetObject = _Serializer.DeserializeFromXML<T>(xml);
}
How can I name the projects to convey their meaning while at the same time differentiating that they are implemented in different languages?
I would actually to not convey this. Give both projects names which are meaningful in and of themselves. Each project should be usable by both languages, so the names should make sense regardless of the language used to create the project.
Ah... just saw your comment. I would recommend implementing most of your extension methods in C# and calling it "Core", then implement the extra features in VB.NET and call it "Extended".
Then, have the VB.NET explicitly reference Core and inherit from it. Users can then use the Core assembly for most of the tasks, or Extended for the additional features.
EDIT: I still think your users would be better off if you figured out a way NOT to split the assemblies, but obviously I don't know all of your requirements/implementation details.

How to check equality of collection type properties, using reflection in C#

I have a class with many properties, some of them are lists of custom types.
I need to compare two instances of this class, and get a list of properties that aren't equal in them.
I designed it with custom attributes (for the relevant properties that I want to include in the comparison), and using the IEquatable, but for the lists I ran into problems. I was going to use SequenceEqual but it requires the type of the list (IEnumerable<SomeType>), which I don't have and don't know how to set. I'm aware of the GetElementType and GetGenericArguments methods but I can't use them inside IEnumerable<> to make the SequenceEqual work.
I'm looking for the best design for this scenario, and also code examples of how to actually do it.
This Codeplex project performs a deep compare of any two .NET objects using reflection:
http://comparenetobjects.codeplex.com/
Project Description
Perform a deep compare of any two .NET objects using reflection. Shows the differences between the two objects.
Compatiblity
Compatible with .NET Framework 3.5 and higher. New in 2.0, portable Class Library version works with .NET 4.0+, Silverlight 5+, Windows Phone 8+, Windows RT 8+, Xamarin iOS, and Xamarin Droid
NuGet Package
http://www.nuget.org/packages/CompareNETObjects

Why doesn't C# have package private?

I'm learning C# and coming from a Java world, I was a little confused to see that C# doesn't have a "package private". Most comments I've seen regarding this amount to "You cannot do it; the language wasn't designed this way". I also saw some workarounds that involve internal and partial along with comments that said these workarounds go against the language's design.
Why was C# designed this way? Also, how would I do something like the following: I have a Product class and a ProductInstance class. The only way I want a ProductInstance to be created is via a factory method in the Product class. In Java, I would put ProductInstance in the same package as Product, but make its constructor package private so that only Product would have access to it. This way, anyone who wants to create a ProductInstance can only do so via the factory method in the Product class. How would I accomplish the same thing in C#?
internal is what you are after. It means the member is accessible by any class in the same assembly. There is nothing wrong with using it for this purpose (Product & ProductInstance), and is one of the things for which it was designed. C# chose not to make namespaces significant -- they are used for organization, not to determine what types can see one another, as in java with package private.
partial is nothing at all like internal or package private. It is simply a way to split the implementation of a class into multiple files, with some extensibility options thrown in for good measure.
Packages don't really exist in the same way as they do in Java. Namespaces are used to organize code and prevent naming clashes, but not for access control. Projects/assemblies can be used for access control, but you can't have nested projects/assemblies like you can with packages.
Use internal to hide one project's members from another.

Is there a way to derive from a class with an internal constructor?

I'm working with a 3rd party c# class that has lots of great methods and properties - but as time has gone by I need to extend that class with methods and properties of my own. If it was my code I would just use that class as my base class and add my own properties and method on top - but this class has an internal constructor. (In my opinion it was short sited to make the constructor internal in the first place - why limit the ability to subclass?)
The only thing I could think of was to create method / properties on my class that simply called into theirs - but it's acres of code and, well, it just doesn't "feel" right.
Is there any way to use this class a base class?
You ask: "Why limit the ability to subclass?"
Because designing for inheritance is tricky, particularly if you're designing for other developers to inherit from your class. As Josh Bloch says in Effective Java, you should design for inheritance or prohibit it. In my view, unless you have a good reason to design for inheritance, you shouldn't do so speculatively.
Does the class implement an interface which you could also implement (possibly by proxying most calls back to an instance of the original)? There's often no really elegant answer here - and the best solution will depend on the exact situation, including what you're trying to add to the class.
If you're not adding any more state - just convenience methods, effectively - then extension methods may work well for you. But they don't change what data an object is capable of storing, so if you need to add your own specialised data, that won't work.
Sounds like a perfect application for extension methods:
MSDN extension method docs
"Extension methods enable you to "add" methods to existing types without creating a new derived type, recompiling, or otherwise modifying the original type. Extension methods are a special kind of static method, but they are called as if they were instance methods on the extended type. For client code written in C# and Visual Basic, there is no apparent difference between calling an extension method and the methods that are actually defined in a type."
If the class has an internal constructor, and there are no public constructors, then that suggests that the designers did not intend for it to be subclassed. In that case, you can use encapsulation, or you can use extension methods.
Only if your class lives in the same assembly as the class you want to inherit from. An internal constructor limits the concrete implementations of the abstract class to the assembly defining the class. A class containing an internal constructor cannot be instantiated outside of the assembly.
Resharper has a nice feature to create delegating members.
Here is a sample of what you can do with it. It takes a couple of seconds.
I will not discuss whether you can build your own Facade around that 3rd party class. Previous authors are right, the library could be designed in the way that will not allow this. Suppose they have some coupled classes that have singletons that should be initialized in specific order or something like this - there may be a lot of design mistakes (or features) that 3rd party developers never care about, because they do not suppose that you will use their library in that way.
But OK, lets suppose that building a facade is not an impossible task, and you have in fact only one problem - there are too many methods you have to write wrappers around, and it is not good to do this manually.
I see 3 solutions to address exactly that problem
1) I suppose that new "dynamic" types of .NET 4.0 will allow you to workaround that problem without having to write "acres of code"
You should incapsulate an instance of 3rd party class into your class as a privare member with dynamic keyword
Your class should be derived from Dynamic or implement IDynamicObject interface. You will have to implement GetMember/SetMember functions that will forward all calls to the encapsulated instance of 3rd party class
Well, c# 4.0 is a future, Let's see on other solutions:
2) Do not write code manually if you have significant number of public methods (say more then 100). I would write a little console app that uses reflection and finds all public members and then automatically generates code to call encapsulated instance. For example
public type MethodName(params)
{
this.anInstanceOf3rdPartyClass.MethodName(params);
}
3) You can do the same as 2, but with the help of existing reflection tools, for example RedGate .NET Reflector. It will help you to list all classes and methods signatures. Then, paste all this in Word and a simple VB macro will let you generate the same code as you could do in 2.
Remark: As soon as you are not copying the code, but only copying method signatures, that are publicly available, I don't think you will violate the license agreement, but anyway it worth to re-check

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