Extension method: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:15, 25 September 2007

Revision as of 15:10, 1 October 2007

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==The problem==

Normally, in a situation where it is necessary to add more functionality to a class - for instance a new method - it would simply be a matter of modifying the class' [[source code]] and recompiling the binaries with these new changes to make this effect. However, in some cases, especially when it comes to classes that are built-in into the .NET-framework or reside in third-party [[.NET assembly|assemblies]], the programmer does not have access to the source code and is thus unable to change the behavior of the class directly. HeretoforeHence, the programmer has been left with two other more limited and less intuitive (respectively) options:

# The first option is to inherit the class and then add the functionality.

# The second option is to make a new, separate class and add a static method that takes an object of the class type and returns a new object with the modification of choice.