OOP Accessing data from a different method

[DGrund]

I am a professional mainframe programmer, and I am trying to learn .Net. I have an OOO problem that is stumping me. I can get around it, but it would look like amateur hacking. I would like to do it the OOO way.

Simply put:
In one method (ReadAccounts), I am reading an Access table into a List (AcctsList). I don't have a problem with that; that works.
In another method (DisplayAccounts), I would like to READ that list, and then process it.
I tried to make the list "global", but I am tripping up on the language. Here is my code:

public void ReadAccounts()
{
var AcctsList = new List<AcctRec>(); // How do I make THIS AcctsList available to other programs?
}
 
public void DisplayAccounts()
{
// Process AcctsList from ReadAccounts above.
}
 

How do I do this? I'm sure there is a simple explanation to this.
Thanks in advance! Any help is really appreciated.
Dave

[Joseph Martell]

So you have a couple of options here. It partially depends on the context of what you are doing and where your code lives.

Without more information, I would probably recommend changing the ReadAccounts method to return the accounts list:

public IEnumerable<AcctRec> ReadAccounts()
{
     var AcctsList = new List<AcctRec>(); 
     //populate your account list
     return AcctsList;
}
 
 public void DisplayAccounts()
{
     var accounts = ReadAccounts();
     // do display stuff here.
}
 
 

This should address your immediate question.

[Arushi]

The simplest solution would be to make the List a member variable of the class:

public class MyClass
{
    private List<AcctRec> AcctsList = new List<AcctRec>();
 
    public void ReadAccounts()
    {
        // Read the accounts into the list
    }
 
    public void DisplayAccounts()
    {
        // Process the list
    }
}