I have a class with a property like this:
public class MyClass { private int MyProp { get; set; } and several methods that use MyProp. One methods sets it and all other methods read the value. What I'd like to do is once the value is set, make it so that other methods can't change its value.
Thanks for your suggestions.
You can add a private field that is set when the property value changes:
public class MyClass { private bool myPropSet = false; private int myProp; public int MyProp { get { return myProp; } set { if (!myPropSet) { myPropSet = true; myProp = value; } } } The closest thing I can think of is setting it readonly, which allows you to assign it in the constructor and then it becomes, well, read only.
public class MyClass { private readonly int MyProp { get; set; } public MyClass(int prop) { MyProp = prop; // cannot be modified further } } Personally having a Property public setter in this case is not intuative. How would the caller know that the setter has been called before? How would they know the setter is set correctly without doing a get?
I would prefer this so the caller knows that the set was successful (if it cares)
public int MyProp { get; private set; } public bool InitMyProp(int value) { if(!_set) { MyProp = value; _set = true; return true; } return false; } You could change it into a conventional property instead of an automatic property, and then validate the setter:
public class MyClass { private int _myProp; private int MyProp { get { return _myProp; } set { if (_myProp == 0) _myProp = value else throw new Exception(); } } } See the readonly modifier, if you can set the value in your constructor.
