Question

Is there a particular scenario where a WriteOnly property makes more sense then a method? The method approach feels much more natural to me.

What is the right approach?

Using Properties:

Public WriteOnly Property MyProperty As String    Set(ByVal value as String)       m_myField = value    End Set End Property 

public string MyProperty {    set{ m_myField = value;} } 

Using Methods:

Public Sub SetMyProperty(ByVal value as String)    m_myField = value End Sub 

public void SetMyProperty(string value) {    m_myField = value; } 

EDIT Just to clarify I am referring to ‘WriteOnly’ properties.

Answer 1

I think a property indicates something that can be read-only or read/write. The behaviour of a write-only property is not obvious so I avoid creating them.

As an example, setting a list of values in a drop-down on a view and accessing the selected item:

public interface IWidgetSelector {   void SetAvailableWidgets(string[] widgets);    string SelectedWidget { get; set; } } 

Makes more sense than:

public interface IWidgetSelector {   string[] AvailableWidgets { set; }    string SelectedWidget { get; set; } }