Replicate a class from an assempli and add a new constructor

PozzaVecia

I need to crate a new class which replicate a class in a given assembly but adding also a new constructor and adding new methods. Is it possible?

Mycroft Holmes

Yes, it's called inheritance and is a cornerstone of OOP.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

DaveyM69

If the class is a class (and not a struct) and isn't sealed then you can inherit from it:

public class YourClass : OriginalClass
{
// Recreate the constructors as they aren't inherited
public YourClass(...) : base(...)
{ }

// Add whatever you want...

}

If it's a struct or a sealed class then you will need to create a wrapper and replicate all the constructors/properties/methods etc you require:

public WrapperClass
{
private WrappedType value;

public WrapperClass(...)
{
    value = new WrappedType(...);
}

public void DoSomething()
{
    value.DoSomething();
}

// Add whatever you want...

}

Dave
Binging is like googling, it just feels dirtier. Please take your VB.NET out of our nice case sensitive forum. Astonish us. Be exceptional. (Pete O'Hanlon)
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)

PozzaVecia

in may case the base class have not a parameterless constructor, while in the derived I need this one. Is it possible to istantiate the base class in later mathod?

DaveyM69

Not by using inheritance - you would need to use a wrapper as in my second snippet, the base would stay null until instanciated.

Dave
Binging is like googling, it just feels dirtier. Please take your VB.NET out of our nice case sensitive forum. Astonish us. Be exceptional. (Pete O'Hanlon)
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)

Andy411

You cannot do it later in a method, but if you know the parameters, you can do it like this:

class BaseClass
{
public BaseClass(int theParam)
{
}
}

class DerivedClass : BaseClass
{
public DerivedClass() : base(4711)
{
}
}