Implementing interface C#

Question

I'm not new to C#, but I have found a behavior that is a little puzzling.

I have an interface

public interface IApplicationPage
{
    Person ThePerson { get; set;  }
    Application Application { get; set; }
}

I implement the interface on a page

public partial class tripapplication2 : System.Web.UI.Page, IApplicationPage
{
    Person IApplicationPage.ThePerson { get; set; }
    Application IApplicationPage.IApplicationPage.Application { get; set; }
}

However, when I attempt to reference ThePerson in the page itself I need to jump through hoops. For example.

1) ThePerson.Birthday

Gives an error saying "The name 'ThePerson' does not exist in the current context."

2) ((IMissionTripApplicationPage)this).ThePerson.Birthday

This works, but it looks awful.

Is there a better way to reference the implemented properties?

Answer 1

Implement them as public properties:

public partial class tripapplication2 : System.Web.UI.Page, IApplicationPage
{
    public Person ThePerson { get; set; }
    public Application IApplicationPage.Application { get; set; }
}

Edit

Question now edited to show these were implemented originally as explicit. So, I should restate mine as implement them as public rather than explicit implementations of the properties.

Answer 2

It looks like you left a line out in your sample. I believe the ThePerson line in the implementation should read

Person IApplicationPage.ThePerson { get; set; }

This type of implementation is known as an explicit interface implementation. This means the member will only be viewable when the object is seen through a reference of the interface type.

If you want the member to be viewable through a concrete type reference, make it public and remove the explicit implementation

public Person ThePerson { get; set; }