Add new property to string class C# [duplicate]

Answer 1

Yeah, you can do this.. however it will be an extension method, not a property.

public static class Extensions
{
    public static string DisplayNone(this string instance)
    {
        return "blah";
    }
}

Which would need to be used (however hacky) as "".DisplayNone(); as it will require an instance of a string to be created.

If you wanted to though, another slightly less hacky way would be to create a helper class..

public static StringHelper
{
    public static string DisplayNone()
    {
        return "blah";
    }
}

Answer 2

You can only build extensions for objects...

something like that:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        string x = "Hello World";
        x.DisplayNow();
    }
}

public static class StringExtension
{
    public static void DisplayNow(this string source)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(source);
    }
}

but i've never seen how u can extend a struct or a class which has never been initialized.

Answer 3

You might be able to create your own value type. That mimics the type String with a "DisplayName" method.

However, I can't see why you need "DisplayName" on the type? It makes more sense on the sting instance. I.e. "Hello".DisplayName. See Smokefoot's answer to this question.