How to create a c# class that gives you usage like: ClassName.Property.Subproperty

Question

I want to create a class so I can use it like this:

Website.Urls.User.Edit
Website.Urls.User.Add
Website.Urls.Content.List

How can I do this in c#? (they will return strings)

Answer 1

public class UserClass
{
  public string Edit {get;set;}
  public string Add {get;set;}
}

public class UrlsClass
{
  public UserClass User {get;set;}
}

public class Website
{
  public UrlsClass Urls {get;set;}
}

For what do you need that?

Answer 2

If the properties are classes, then you can access the properties of the referenced class. Some would argue that this violates the principle of information-hiding, but I think that somewhat depends on the case. For instance, in an ORM (object relational mapping), a property might be a class mapping a foreign key reference, and that's (possibly) a little better than some other circumstances.

Anway, this would not be a case for implicit properties. Use a declared private field for the property to reference, and check it for null before returning it. If null, then fill the property and return.

Answer 3

It seems to me that you should rethink your architecture as this deepy nested structure implies clumsy design. For further information, see the Law of Demeter.