Question

I am looking to write a function like

ref String TestIt( int index ) { return this.TestArray[index]; }; 

so that I could write code like:

MyClass.TestIt(0) = 'Hello World'; 

My goal is to mimic this c++ declaration

CString& MyClass::Data( UINT index); 

By Reference I am referring to the c++ term the Address of the variable.
in other words after my call to TestIT(0) TestArray[0] would contain ‘Hello World’.

EDIT I can’t use an indexer because my goal is to convert a .cpp file to c# on an ongoing basis. The closer I can mimic this c++ code, the less of a converter I have to write.

Answer 1

To do this you need to write a setter property. Unfortunately, setters can’t take further arguments in C# so you won’t be able to write this code 1:1 in C#. The closest you can get is a nested class with a default property:

class YourClass {     public class Nested {         public Nested(YourClass outer) { m_RefToOuterWorld = outer; }         private readonly YourClass m_RefToOuterWorld;          public string this[int index] {             get { return m_RefToOuter.TestArray[index];             set { m_RefToOuter.TestArray[index] = value; }         }     }      private readonly Nested m_Nested;     private string[] TestArray = new string[10];      public YourClass() { m_Nested = new Nested(this); }      public Nested TestIt { get { return m_Nested; } } } 

You can use it like this:

var test = new YourClass(); test.TestIt[2] = 'Hello world!'; 

By the way, since this is so much effort, you probably don’t want to do this. Also, it doesn’t feel very C#-y. The useless indiretion through the nested class here isn’t something you’ll see very often.