With block equivalent in C#?

Question

I know VB.Net and am trying to brush up on my C#. Is there a With block equivalent in C#?

Thanks

Answer 1

No there is not.

Answer 2

No, there is not.

Answer 3

No, and thank goodness there isn't.

Answer 4

You could use the argument accumulator pattern.

Big discussion about this here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/csharpfaq/archive/2004/03/11/87817.aspx

Answer 5

hmm. I have never used VB.net in any depth, so I'm making an assumption here, but I think the 'using' block might be close to what you want.

using defines a block scope for a variable, see the example below

using ( int temp = someFunction(param1) ) {
   temp++;  // this works fine
}

temp++; // this blows up as temp is out of scope here and has been disposed

Here is an article from Microsoft that explains a bit more

---

EDIT: yeah, this answer is wrong - the original assumption was incorrect. VB's 'WITH' is more like the new C# object initialisers:

var yourVariable = new yourObject { param1 = 20, param2 = "some string" };

Answer 6

About 3/4 down the page in the "Using Objects" section:

VB:

With hero 
  .Name = "SpamMan" 
  .PowerLevel = 3 
End With

C#:

//No "With" construct
hero.Name = "SpamMan"; 
hero.PowerLevel = 3;

Answer 7

Although C# doesn't have any direct equivalent for the general case, C# 3 gain object initializer syntax for constructor calls:

var foo = new Foo { Property1 = value1, Property2 = value2, etc };

See chapter 8 of C# in Depth for more details - you can download it for free from Manning's web site.

(Disclaimer - yes, it's in my interests to get the book into more people's hands. But hey, it's a free chapter which gives you more information on a related topic...)

Answer 8

ever heard of a fluent-interface? ... that is really near to that ...

Answer 9

This is what Visual C# program manager has to say: Why doesn't C# have a 'with' statement?

Answer 10

As the Visual C# Program Manager linked above says, there are limited situations where the With statement is more efficient, the example he gives when it is being used as a shorthand to repeatedly access a complex expression.

Using an extension method and generics you can create something that is vaguely equivalent to a With statement, by adding something like this:

    public static T With<T>(this T item, Action<T> action)
    {
        action(item);
        return item;
    }

Taking a simple example of how it could be used, using lambda syntax you can then use it to change something like this:

    updateRoleFamily.RoleFamilyDescription = roleFamilyDescription;
    updateRoleFamily.RoleFamilyCode = roleFamilyCode;

To this:

    updateRoleFamily.With(rf =>
          {
              rf.RoleFamilyDescription = roleFamilyDescription;
              rf.RoleFamilyCode = roleFamilyCode;
          });

On an example like this the only advantage is perhaps a nicer layout, but with a more complex reference and more properties it could well give you more readable code.