Question

I have a problem (it’s my fault, I just can’t spot what I’m doing wrong) where ‘ToString’ isn’t calling the correct method…

public class ClassA {    public override ToString()    {       return 'Hello, I'm class A.';    } }  public class ClassB : ClassA {    public override ToString()    {        return 'Hello, I'm class B.';    } }  ClassB myClassB = new ClassB(); List<ClassA> myClassAList = new List<ClassA>();  myClassAList.Add((ClassA) myClassB); ClassA tempClassA = myClassAList[0]; Console.WriteLine(tempClassA.ToString()); 

I’m getting the ‘ToString’ from ‘ClassB’ and not ‘ClassA’ what am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

You are overriding ToString in ClassB instead of hiding it from the original which will cause the overridden method to take precedence. What you could do is..

public class ClassA {     public override string ToString()     {         return 'Hello, I'm class A.';     } }  public class ClassB : ClassA {     public new string ToString()     {         return 'Hello, I'm class B.';     } }  ...  List<ClassA> theList = new List<ClassA> {     (ClassA)new ClassB(),     (ClassA)new ClassB() };  ClassA a = theList[0]; Console.WriteLine(a.ToString());  // OR...   Console.WriteLine(new ClassA().ToString());  // I'm Class A Console.WriteLine(new ClassB().ToString());  // I'm Class B Console.WriteLine(((ClassA)new ClassB()).ToString()); // I'm Class A