Question

I’m pretty new to this, so please bear with me.

I have a class which has three properties: a couple of ints and a collection of userdefined objects.

public class Response
{
    public int num1 { get; set; }
    public int num2 { get; set; }
    public Drink[] drinks{ get; set; }
}

I can instantiate the class using the userdefined objects and everything works great.

Response response = new Response
    {
        num1= 7, num2= 2, drinks= new Drink[] 
        { new Drink{Id=1, Name="Orange"}, new Drink{Id=2, Name="Apple"}}
    };

How can I make that third property of the Response class to where I can have another instance of the class using a different userdefined object, say, “Snack”.

Looking for an online resource to read/learn/figure out more so than an answer, although either would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

As Alex suggested, Generics are the solution to the problem as you describe it. You could redefine your class like this:

public class Response<T>
{ 
    public int num1 { get; set; } 
    public int num2 { get; set; } 
    public T[] items{ get; set; } 
} 

… and then declare your instance like this:

Response<Drink> drinkResponse = new Response<Drink>
{              
    num1= 7, num2= 2, items = new Drink[] { new Drink{Id=1, Name="Orange"}, new Drink{Id=2, Name="Apple"}}  
};  

Response<Snack> snackResponse = new Response<Snack>  
{              
    num1= 7, num2= 2, items = new Snack[] { new Snack{Id=1, Name="Orange"}, new Snack{Id=2, Name="Apple"}}  
};