Question

I want to call a method from my base class that also has a variable from the base class:

    class BaseClass
    {
    public string BaseClassMethod()
    {
        if (CheckKeyboard(Keys.Up))
            return "Up";

        if (CheckKeyboard(Keys.Down))
            return "Down";

        if (CheckKeyboard(Keys.Enter) && keyboardOn == true) <-- keyboardOn is a variable from my BaseClass that i want to be able to use :/
        {
            counter = 0; <-- counter is also one of those variables
            return "Enter";
        }

        return "";
    }
    }

    class InheritFromBase : BaseClass
    {
    public string Update()
    {
        currentKeyboard = Keyboard.GetState();
        currentMouse = Mouse.GetState();

        if (BaseClassMethod() == "Up")
            if (selected > 0)
                selected--;
            else
                selected = buttonList.Count - 1;

        if (BaseClassMethod() == "Down")
            if (selected < buttonList.Count - 1)
                selected++;
            else
                selected = 0;

        if (BaseClassMethod() == "Enter")
            return buttonList[selected];

        previousKeyboard = currentKeyboard;
        previousMouse = currentMouse;

        return "";
    }
    }

and since i call the mothod from another class it seems like a cannot access he variables (values) and then change them.
please help 🙂 thank you

Answer 1

It’s generally bad practice to expose a local variable outside a class. You can do it through a protected access modifier, however I’d recommend you expose it through a protected Property or Method.

assuming keyboardOn is your class-level variable in your base class:

public class BaseClass
{
    private bool keyboardOn;

    protected bool KeyboardOn;
    {
        get
        {
            return this.keyboardOn;
        }
    }    
}    

public class InheritFromBase : BaseClass
{
    ....

    if(this.KeyboardOn)
    {
        // do something based on base property
    }

    ....
}

The above assumes you only want to get the status variable keyboardOn from the base class. If you need to also set the value of the variable from the inheriting class you can add a set to the exposing property.