Question

I have a class holding complex scientific computations. It is set up to only allow a user to create a properly instantiated case. To properly test the code, however, requires setting internal state variables directly, since the reference documents supply this data in their test cases. Done improperly, however, it can invalidate the state.

So I must have the ability, a member function, to set internal variables from the unit test programs. But I want to strongly discourage normal users from calling this function. (Yes, a determined user can muck with anything… but I don’t want to advertise that there is a way to do something wrong.)

It would be nice to be able to tell Intellisense to not show the function, for instance.

The best solution I have at the moment is to just name the function something like: DangerousSet().

What other options do I have?

Follow-Up

I found Amy B’s answer most useful to my situation. Thanks!
Mufasa’s suggestion to use reflection was great, but harder to implement (for me).
Chris’ suggestion of using a decorator was good, but didn’t pan out.
BFree’s suggestion on XML is also good, and was already in use, but doesn’t really solve the problem.

Finally, BillTheLizard’s suggestion that the problem is in the source documents is not something I can control. International experts publish highly technical books and journal articles for use by their community. The fact that they don’t address my particular needs is a fact of life. There simply are no alternative documents.

Answer 1

Suppose you want to test this object by manipulating its fields.

public class ComplexCalculation {     protected int favoriteNumber;     public int FavoriteNumber     {         get { return favoriteNumber; }     } } 

Place this object in your test assembly/namespace:

public class ComplexCalculationTest : ComplexCalculation {     public void SetFavoriteNumber(int newFavoriteNumber)     {         this.favoriteNumber = newFavoriteNumber;     } } 

And write your test:

    public void Test()     {         ComplexCalculationTest myTestObject = new ComplexCalculationTest();         myTestObject.SetFavoriteNumber(3);         ComplexCalculation myObject = myTestObject;          if (myObject.FavoriteNumber == 3)             Console.WriteLine('Win!');      } 

PS: I know you said internal, but I don’t think you meant internal.