class for different uses

Question

I have a class that is being used by two different processes with each process using different properties of the class. Everytime a process requires a new property I simply add it to the class. Is this a bad idea? Should I just create two separate classes and update them when required?

N.B. At times the same property is being used by both the processes and each process uses a different instance of the class.

Answer 1

Common properties can be kept in a single class. Then you can derive two different classes from the common class and add specific properties.

Answer 2

Use a member list containing (named property, value) pairs in the class. Couple this with a factory with 2 methods returning instances seeded with the right set of properties.

Answer 3

"Common properties can be kept in a single class. Then you can derive two different classes from the common class and add specific properties" - Kirtan Gor

class BaseClassWithSharedProperties
{
    public Int32 SharedId { get; set; }
    public String SharedName { get; get; }
}

class UniqueClassNumberOne : BaseClassWithSharedProperties
{
    public UniqueClassNumberOneProperty { get; set; }
}

class UniqueClassNumberTwo : BaseClassWithSharedProperties
{
    public UniqueClassNumberTwoProperty { get; set; }
}