Question

I would like to get an instance of a static class, but I can’t seem to do this without implementing a singleton wrapper on a non-static class– is this possible, or am I missing something?

public class MyInstanceTester
 {
    public MyInstanceTester()
    {
        //this is how i get a reference to a singleton now
        MyClass instance1 = MyClass.Instance();
        //this is what is would like to do (if only the compiler would let me)
        MyStaticClass instance2 = MyStaticClass.Instance();
    }
}


public class MyClass
{
    private static MyClass _myInstance;

    static MyClass()
    {
        _myInstance = new MyClass();
    }


    public static MyClass Instance()
    {
        return _myInstance;
    }

}

public static class MyStaticClass
{
    public static MyStaticClass Instance
    {
        get
        {
            return this;
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

There is no such thing as an instance of a static class. The singleton pattern simply returns the same instance of a class to repeated requests.

You may be getting confused by:

private static MyClass _myInstance;

This simply means that there will be a single instance of that particular object among all objects instantiated of the type that have _myInstance as a member.

A few notes:

• The this keyword is not valid in a static member
• If you have a static class then all members have to be static and so this will never be valid
• A Singleton class cannot be a static class
• Singletons declare a single static member to help ensure that only a single instance of that class exists
• Note that a static reference to an object does not make the object static. Only the reference is static

Further reading: Jon Skeet has an excellent write up on implemeting Singletons in C# In Depth. I would suggest reading and studying this article until you grok it. It is quite good.