Question

I have an abstract class and would like to add a static dictionary for error codes. I tried the following:

public abstract class Base
{
   ...
   protected static readonly Dictionary<int, string> errorDescriptions = new Dictionary<int, string>()
   {
      { 1, "Description1"},
      { 2, "Description2"},
      ...
    };
   ...
}

but then discovered that this was implemented in .NET 3.0; I am using 2.0. I looked around and some others suggested I add the pairs in the constructor but this is an abstract class.

How can/should I populate the dictionary?

Thanks.

Answer 1

public abstract class Base
{
   ...
   protected static readonly Dictionary<int, string> errorDescriptions;
   // Type constructor called when Type is first accessed.
   // This is called before any Static members are called or instances are constructed.
   static Base ()
   {
      errorDescriptions = new Dictionary<int, string>();
      errorDescriptions[1] = "Description1";
      errorDescriptions[2] = "Description2";
   }
}