Question

If I have the following code:

public class MyClass 
{ 
  public string myName { get; private set; } 
  public string myId { get; set; } 
} 

A private compiler-generated variable is created for the setter. I want the setter not to be accessible for object initialization only. But, how do I get to initially set the myName variable?

Reading about object initialization I found the following:

… it’s read-only and the
private field representing the
underlying storage has a
compiler-generated name that we
cannot use in a constructor to assign
to it. The solution is to use […] object
initializers

The solution would be, then, to use:

MyClass mc = new MyClass { 
myName = "What ever", 
myId = "1234" 
};

But this ends up in a compiler error sayin that:

The property or indexer
‘MyClass.MyClass.myName’
cannot be used in this context because
the set accessor is inaccessible

So, is there a way to achieve setting this value using object initialization? If there is, what is the correct way to do it?

Answer 1

Private set on myName means you can only initialize (set) it from something that is a member of MyClass. For example:

        public class MyClass {
        public string myName { get; private set; }
        public string myId { get; set; }

        public static MyClass GetSampleObject() {
            MyClass mc = new MyClass
            {
                myName = "Whatever",
                myId = "1234"
            };
            return mc;
        }
    }

(I copied and pasted your initialization code into the GetSampleObject method).

But if you try to set it outside MyClass, you get a compiler error, because private is private.