Question

I have an issue with a Lab for class and the issue is I’m not sure how to assign my reference.

Here is my Code :

class Bank
{
    static List<Account> accounts = new List<Account>();
    static Account active_account; // this will be an active 
    // Account (reference) retrieved from 
    // the bank. This will need to initialised either by 
    // CreateAccount or by RetrieveAccount.

    static void Main()
    {
        bool running = true, valid_option = false;
        int user_option = 0, account_num = 0, account_pin = 0;
        string name = "", type = "";
        decimal balance = 0, credit = 0;
        Bank chosen = new Bank();

        Console.Write("account number:");
                    account_num = SafeReadInteger(0);
                    Console.Write("pin number:");
                    account_pin = SafeReadInteger(0);
                    Console.Write("Client name:");
                    name = Console.ReadLine();
                    Console.Write("Balance:");
                    balance = SafeReadDecimal(0);
                    Console.Write("type:");
                    type = Console.ReadLine();
                    Console.Write("Credit:");
                    credit = SafeReadDecimal(0);
        chosen.CreateAccount(account_num, account_pin, name, balance, type);
    }
}

The comments are from the lecturer,

Now scrolling down to my constructor,

public Account CreateAccount(int ac_num_, int pin_, string owner_, decimal balance_, string type)
{
    Account newAcc = null;

    newAcc = new Account(ac_num_, pin_, owner_, balance_, type); // first uses the         constructor to create an account
    accounts.Add(newAcc); // second it inserts the account in the list and return the       reference to the account
    // depending on the type of account, a credit limit is set
    active_account = new Account(ac_num_, pin_);
    return newAcc;
}

My question is where do I Initialize active_account and to what do i assign it?

Answer 1

Your CreateAccount method is not a constructor. It is a factory method. It works like this:

active_account = chosen.CreateAccount(
    account_num, account_pin, name, balance, type);

active_account.DoStuff();

Your Bank instance has a factory method named CreateAccount which returns an initialized instance of an Account class.