Design Mode Preprocessor Directive Workaround - vb.net

I know that there is no DESIGN, DESIGN_MODE, DESIGN_TIME, etc preprocessor directive value. However, I need something that can do the trick. I can't use a normal If statement, because in my case I need to change the inherited class so that the control renders properly at design time. If not, I'll receive an exception due to the fact that the inherited class is an abstract class.
Here's what I'm looking to accomplish:
Partial Class MyCustomControl
#If DesignMode Then
Inherits UserControl
#Else
Inherits WidgetControl
#End If
Any suggestions?

Try using:
if (this.DesignMode == true)
{ }
else
{ }

In the past I have created a dummy class as a go between. Sometimes VS will still figure out what you are doing and get upset, but normally restarting the IDE will solve that.
Partial Class MyCustomControl : MyAbstractClass_FAKE_IMPL
{
//your normal class
}
and
Partial Class MyAbstractClass_FAKE_IMPL : MyAbstractClass
{
//let IDE autogenerate implementation code that you are always going to override in reality.
}

Related

OO Design Issue related to subclassing

I have a parent bean having one instance variable like below :
public Class ParentBean {
protected boolean show; // this variable will be used to show some UI component
public void action() {
// update show variable here
}
public boolean isShow() {
return show;
}
}
Is it a good design if I want to reuse the "show" variable in a child bean (to show other UI component specific to child bean ) as shown below :
public Class ChildBean extends ParentBean {
// override the action method from parent bean
public void action() {
// update show variable here
show = true /false;
}
}
In effect , show variable is being updated by "childBean" by overriding action() method.
Is this a good design practice ? Otherwise same thing has to be repeated in ChildBean to get this work done.
If you use the show variable for the same purpose in the subclass, as you seem to be doing in this example, then obviously you should reuse it, because otherwise you just end up writing the same code twice, which is contrary to the point of OOP.
In general, in OOP, it is common to override superclass methods in subclasses, as well as modifying superclass instance variables, as long as you know what the variable you are modifying is being used for (you don't want to be randomly changing instance variables in classes that you don't completely understand, or don't have access to the source of, because you don't want any unfortunate side effects), so when it's your own code, this is absolutely fine.
As a general guideline, if your options are either to copy and paste a massive hunk of code and use it unchanged, or subclass and use the superclass' instance variables or functions, it's better to subclass. Otherwise, you're missing out on the point of OOP.
Changing the value in subclass will not affect superclass variable
This is fine with respect to the design. When a subclass object is instantiated, it will have a different copy of variable. and If superclass object is instantiated it will have different copy.
It is. Having a protected variable means you are allowed to modify it into parent or children classes (remember every single instance of each class has its own property values). So, if you have some generic functionality which is valuable for all the children:
Parent class:
public void action(){
//update show variable here
show = true;
}
Appart from that, if you want to add some extra functionality in a specifical child:
Child class:
#Override
public void action(){
super.action();
//Extra functionality goes here
//You can also access parent's 'protected' fields
if (show){
System.out.println("Shown");
}
}
An example of the use:
Parent p = new Parent();
p.action();//Prints nothing
Child c = new Child();
p.action();//Prints 'shown'

Design Pattern for late binding class (without switch case for class assignment)

I have a base class where all common functions are written. I many classes which override this functions by virtual keyword. Like,
public class Base
{
public virtual void sample()
{
..............
}
}
public class a : Base
{
public override sample()
{
}
}
public class implement
{
public void ToSample()
{
Base baseclass = new Base();
Switch(test)
{
case a: baseclass = a();
break;
case b: baseclass = b();
break;
}
baseclass.sample();
}
}
This perfect code for current situation but now I have more class to be assign in switch case. It is not good practice for adding huge amount of cases so I want something that automatically assign child class.
Is anybody know something to be implement ?
As stated in the comment, you can decouple the implementation by using dependency injection. Note however, that in some cases you have no choice but doing that kind of switch (e.g. when you need to create a class based on a text received in a socket). In such cases the important thing is to always keep the switch statement encapsulated in one method and make your objects rely on it (or, in other words, don't copy-and-paste it everywhere :)). The idea here is too keep your system isolated from a potentially harmful code. Of course that if you add a new class you will have to go and modify that method, however you will only have to do it in one time and in one specific place.
Another approach that I have seen (and sometimes used) is to build a mapping between values an classes. So, if your class-creation switch depends on an integer code, you basically create a mapping between codes and classes. What you are doing here is turning a "static" switch into a dynamic behavior, since you can change the mappings contents at any time and thus alter the way your program behaves. A typical implementation would be something like (sorry for the pseudocode, I'm not familiar with C#):
public class implement
{
public void ToSample()
{
class = this.mapping.valueForKey(test);
Base baseclass = new class();
baseclass.sample();
}
}
Note however that for this example to work you need reflection support, which varies according to the language you are using (again, sorry but I don't know the C# specifics).
Finally, you can also check the creational family of patterns for inspiration regarding object creation issues and some well known forms of solving them.
HTH

Monkey Patching in C#

Is it possible to extend or modify the code of a C# class at runtime?
My question specifically revolves around Monkey Patching / Duck Punching or Meta Object Programming (MOP), as it happens in scripting languages such as Groovy, Ruby etc.
For those still stumbling on this question in the present day, there is indeed a present-day library called Harmony that relatively-straightforwardly enables such monkey-patching at runtime. Its focus is on video game modding (particularly games built with Unity), but there ain't much stopping folks from using it outside of that use case.
Copying the example from their introduction, if you have an existing class like so:
public class SomeGameClass
{
public bool isRunning;
public int counter;
private int DoSomething()
{
if (isRunning)
{
counter++;
}
return counter * 10;
}
}
Then Harmony can patch it like so:
using HarmonyLib;
using Intro_SomeGame;
public class MyPatcher
{
// make sure DoPatching() is called at start either by
// the mod loader or by your injector
public static void DoPatching()
{
var harmony = new Harmony("com.example.patch");
harmony.PatchAll();
}
}
[HarmonyPatch(typeof(SomeGameClass))]
[HarmonyPatch("DoSomething")]
class Patch01
{
static AccessTools.FieldRef<SomeGameClass, bool> isRunningRef =
AccessTools.FieldRefAccess<SomeGameClass, bool>("isRunning");
static bool Prefix(SomeGameClass __instance, ref int ___counter)
{
isRunningRef(__instance) = true;
if (___counter > 100)
return false;
___counter = 0;
return true;
}
static void Postfix(ref int __result)
{
__result *= 2;
}
}
Here, we have a "prefix" patch which gets inserted before the original method runs, allowing us to set variables within the method, set fields on the method's class, or even skip the original method entirely. We also have a "postfix" patch which gets inserted after the original method runs, and can manipulate things like the return value.
Obviously this ain't quite as nice as the sorts of monkey-patching you can do in e.g. Ruby, and there are a lot of caveats that might hinder its usefulness depending on your use case, but in those situations where you really do need to alter methods, Harmony's a pretty proven approach to doing so.
Is it possible to extend or modify the code of a C# class at run-time?
No it is not possible to do this in .NET. You could write derived classes and override methods (if they are virtual) but you cannot modify an existing class. Just imagine if what you were asking was possible: you could modify the behavior of some existing system classes like System.String.
You may also take a look at Extension methods to add functionality to an existing class.
You can add functionality, but you cannot change or remove functionality.
You can extend classes by adding extra methods, but you cannot override them because added methods have always lower priority than existing ones.
For more info, check Extension Methods in C# Programming Guide.

Where to put methods used by multiple classes?

To show an example what is this question about:
I have currently a dilemma in PHP project I'm working on. I have in mind a method that will be used by multiple classes (UIs in this case - MVC model), but I'm not sure how to represent such methods in OO design. The first thing that came into my mind was to create a class with static functions that I'd call whenever I need them. However I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do.
To be more precise, I want to work, for example, with time. So I'll need several methods that handle time. I was thinking about creating a Time class where I'd be functions that check whether the time is in correct format etc.
Some might say that I shouldn't use class for this at all, since in PHP I can still use procedural code. But I'm more interested in answer that would enlighten me how to approach such situations in OOP / OOD.
So the actual questions are: How to represent such methods? Is static function approach good enough or should I reconsider anything else?
I would recommend creating a normal class the contains this behavior, and then let that class implement an interface extracted from the class' members.
Whenever you need to call those methods, you inject the interface (not the concrete class) into the consumer. This lets you vary the two independently of each other.
This may sound like more work, but is simply the Strategy design pattern applied.
This will also make it much easier to unit test the code, because the code is more loosely coupled.
Here's an example in C#.
Interface:
public interface ITimeMachine
{
IStopwatch CreateStopwatch();
DateTimeOffset GetNow();
}
Production implementation:
public class RealTimeMachine : ITimeMachine
{
#region ITimeMachine Members
public IStopwatch CreateStopwatch()
{
return new StopwatchAdapter();
}
public DateTimeOffset GetNow()
{
return DateTimeOffset.Now;
}
#endregion
}
and here's a consumer of the interface:
public abstract class PerformanceRecordingSession : IDisposable
{
private readonly IStopwatch watch;
protected PerformanceRecordingSession(ITimeMachine timeMachine)
{
if (timeMachine == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("timeMachine");
}
this.watch = timeMachine.CreateStopwatch();
this.watch.Start();
}
public abstract void Record(long elapsedTicks);
public virtual void StopRecording()
{
this.watch.Stop();
this.Record(this.watch.ElapsedTicks);
}
}
Although you say you want a structure for arbitrary, unrelated functions, you have given an example of a Time class, which has many related functions. So from an OO point of view you would create a Time class and have a static function getCurrentTime(), for example, which returns an instance of this class. Or you could define that the constuctors default behaviour is to return the current time, whichever you like more. Or both.
class DateTime {
public static function getNow() {
return new self();
}
public function __construct() {
$this->setDateTime('now');
}
public function setDateTime($value) {
#...
}
}
But apart from that, there is already a builtin DateTime class in PHP.
Use a class as a namespace. So yes, have a static class.
class Time {
public static function getCurrentTime() {
return time() + 42;
}
}
I don't do PHP, but from an OO point of view, placing these sorts of utility methods as static methods is fine. If they are completely reusable in nature, consider placing them in a utils class.

C++ Class read as variable, default-type int? Say what?

So, I have two classes...Very basic in structure. I try to import one into the other, and declare a new object of that class type...however, it seems to read the class name as the name of a variable?!
The header class provided below will not read the "ApplicationManager" class properly.
Code:
####ifndef _GAME_H_
####define _GAME_H_
####include "application.h"
####include "applicationmanager.h"
class Game : public Application
{
public:
Game();
~Game();
void LoadContent() override;
void UnloadContent() override;
void Draw() override;
private:
//int ApplicationManager; //WHY DOES THIS COMPILE??!
ApplicationManager management; //This DOES NOT WORK?
};
####endif
Here is the header for the "ApplicationManager" class.
Code:
####ifndef _APPMANAGER_H_
####define _APPMANAGER_H_
####include "game.h"
####include "application.h"
class ApplicationManager
{
public:
ApplicationManager(void);
~ApplicationManager(void);
private:
};
####endif
The error that occurs, tells me that I need a ";" before "management", and that "ApplicationManager" is missing a type specifier, so it is assumed to be default-type int.
...any ideas why it won't compile properly? Can someone else try this and report the results? I copied the code, and pasted it in a different solution, to see if something became corrupted....it still didn't work.
You have a cyclic reference. When game.h is included from applicationmanager.h, the ApplicationManager class has not yet been read by the compiler.
To fix, remove the line
#include "game.h"
from applicationmanager.h.
Why do you have circular dependency between Game.h and AppicationManager.h?
Aside from that, I'd say check your header guard (#ifdef _*_H) in Application.h. A fairly often occurence in C++, when copy/pasting code or copying files, is to forget to change the header guard define name for a new class, so you end up with two different headers guarded by the same define. In which case, if both are included into some other file, only the first will actually be expanded into anything useful.
THe error message is some what misleading. It basically says "For some reason (probably an error in the referenced type) I cannot recognize the type you're using (in you case ApplicationManager)".
If you need ApplicationManager to know about Game make a pure virtual base class (interface in other terms) and have Game inherit from that (with out extending the interface) and have ApplicationManager include the base class header file