Partially Overriding a Virtual Auto-Property in a Child Class

Question

Time for a theoretical question I just ran across.

The following code is valid and compiles:

public class Parent
{
    public virtual object TestProperty         


        

Answer 1

Doesn't it make sense for a setter, though? If you partially override only the setter, that could be useful so that you can respond to that event, in addition to calling base.TestProperty = value, without having to bother with a boilerplate override of the getter as well.

Answer 2

This behavior is consistent with non-auto-implemented properties in C#. It's always been possible to override only a get or set method for a virtual property. Hence making it impossible to do with an auto-implemented property would create an unnecessary inconsistency.

For example, the following is legal

class A
{
    public virtual int P1
    {
        get { return 42; }
        set { }
    }
}

class B : A
{
    public override int P1
    {
        get { return 18; }
    }
}