Constructors in a Static Class

[Jordan S.]

Just learning OOP here... Does it make sense to have a constructor in a
static class? Say I have a class with a constructor and then mark that class
as static; will it (the default constructor) get called when the application
starts? or are any/all constructors ignored in static classes?

Thanks.

[Sericinus hunter]

Jordan S. wrote:

Just learning OOP here... Does it make sense to have a constructor in a
static class? Say I have a class with a constructor and then mark that class
as static; will it (the default constructor) get called when the application
starts? or are any/all constructors ignored in static classes?

It will not compile, unless the constructor is also marked static.
And yes, it may make sense, when you need lazy initialization.

[Marc Gravell]

static constructors are automatically executed (generally) when the static
class is first used by the runtime, which could be a while into your app.
But yes, they are definitely useful. For generic static classes the ctor is
executed once per template permutation.

Marc

[Mini-Tools Timm]

"Jordan S." wrote:

Just learning OOP here... Does it make sense to have a constructor in a
static class? Say I have a class with a constructor and then mark that class
as static; will it (the default constructor) get called when the application
starts? or are any/all constructors ignored in static classes?

Static constructor make sense if you have static variables that you need to
initialize. Static constructors are invoked the first time the class is
accessed.
Be sure to mark the constructor as static.

--
Timm Martin
Mini-Tools
..NET Components and Windows Software
http://www.mini-tools.com