Reflection, Custom Attributes, Inheritance Advice Needed

[Lee]

I need to implement a custom ToString method for derived classes.

The method should return a string that is the result of concatenating the
results of a ToString on each of the fields in the class. Individual fields
can specify a custom attribute [Format=string] to allow for custom
formatting of values.

I think I know enough to implement this but if someone already has a sample
of something similar I would appreciate it.

My questions are these:

1. Once I create the method, how do I share it?
2. Can I put this in a base class and inherit this implementation?
3. Would inheritance be easier if the method name was not ToString but
perhaps Format?
4. What must I do to insure the fields are concatenated in the order they
are specified in the source?

TIA

Lee

[Charles Calvert]

On Sat, 24 Sep 2005 08:18:58 GMT, "Lee"
<fl***********@nospam.yahoo.com> wrote in
<SZ***************@newssvr29.news.prodigy.net>:

I need to implement a custom ToString method for derived classes.

The method should return a string that is the result of concatenating the
results of a ToString on each of the fields in the class. Individual fields
can specify a custom attribute [Format=string] to allow for custom
formatting of values.

I think I know enough to implement this but if someone already has a sample
of something similar I would appreciate it.

My questions are these:

1. Once I create the method, how do I share it?
What do you mean by "share"? You can make it public so that any class
with an instance of your derived class can access it.
2. Can I put this in a base class and inherit this implementation?
Yes, but remember that C# only supports single inheritance, so you
can't do something convenient like stick in in a utility class and
then inherit it whereever you need it.
3. Would inheritance be easier if the method name was not ToString but
perhaps Format?
Probably not.
4. What must I do to insure the fields are concatenated in the order they
are specified in the source?

That I'm not sure about.
--
Charles Calvert | Software Design/Development
Celtic Wolf, Inc. | Project Management
http://www.celticwolf.com/ | Technical Writing
[phone] | Research