Is there a way to set multiple properties with one declaration in Windows Forms C#?
I'm making a skill calculator for a game and I would like be able to do something like this:
someControl.Text = "some text",
.BackgroundImage = "someImage.jpg";
Is it possible to do something like that?
In VB, you could use the "WITH" keyword. The closest thing in C# is the constructor that takes an object initializer.
var someControl = new Control() {
Text = "SomeText",
BackgroundImage "someImage.jpg" };
but no, I don't think there is a way to do what you are asking in C#.
What you're talking about is a fluent interface[Wikipedia]. Unfortunately, there is not a way to chain properties in a fluent way in C#. A type initializer block could be used to achieve almost the same effect, but only when you're constructing the object. Because it's WinForms, the constructing is probably happening in the designer generated code. Best not to monkey with that.
You can, however, create a fluent interface using methods, if you desire:
class Widget
{
public Widget SetFoo(int foo)
{
// Set the Foo property or whatever...
return this;
}
public Widget SetBar(int bar)
{
// Set the Bar property or whatever...
return this;
}
}
Then, you can use the class like so:
var w = new Widget().SetFoo(23).SetBar(42);
You can even do this for .NET framework types and controls using extension methods. However, unless you're using it a lot, adding such an interface to a framework class is probably overkill.
If you are creating (or rather, constructing) SomeControl, you can use an initializer;
myControl = new SomeControl {
Text = "blablabla",
BackgroundImage = "someimage.jpg" };
Otherwise your answer is a plain a boring "no"...
var x=someControl;then you canx.Text=...andx.BackgroundImage=...all you want. If you don't like that, and you are setting a lot of properties, then when you are done, hold down the alt and highlight all thexs, and type someControl, then delete thevar x=someControl;if you just wanted to save typing.