List readonly with a private set

Question

How can I expose a List so that it is readonly, but can be set privately?

This doesn\'t work:

public List myList          


        

Answer 1

You can use List's AsReadOnly() method to return a read-only wrapper.

Answer 2

You could also create your normal list, but expose it through a property of type IEnumerable

private List<int> _list = new List<int>();

public IEnumerable<int> publicCollection{
   get { return _list; }
}

Answer 3

Here is one way

public class MyClass
    {
        private List<string> _myList;
        public ReadOnlyCollection<string> PublicReadOnlyList { get { return _myList.AsReadOnly(); } }

        public MyClass()
        {
            _myList = new List<string>();
            _myList.Add("tesT");
            _myList.Add("tesT1");
            _myList.Add("tesT2");

            //(_myList.AsReadOnly() as List<string>).Add("test 5");
        }

    }