What does “this” mean in a static method declaration?

Question

I\'ve seen some code that uses the keyword this in the function parameter declaration. For example:

public static Object SomeMethod( this Object         


        

Answer 1

It is how you declare an extension method.

This means that you can invoke SomeMethod with .SomeMethod for any object. The object before the . will be the blah parameter.

string s = "sdfsd";
Object result = s.SomeMethod(false);

The extension method will be available on all types inheriting from the type of the this parameter, in this case object. If you have SomeMethod(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable) it will be available on all IEnumerable<T>:s like List<T>.

Answer 2

Extension method:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb383977.aspx

Answer 3

It means SomeMethod() is an extension method to the Object class.

After defining it you can call this method on any Object instances (despite it being declared static), like so:

object o = new Object();
bool someBool = true;

// Some other code...

object p = o.SomeMethod(someBool);

The this Object parameter refers to the object you call it on, and is not actually found in the parameter list.

The reason why it's declared static while you call it like an instance method is because the compiler translates that to a real static call in the IL. That goes deep down though, so I shan't elaborate, but it also means you can call it as if it were any static method:

object o = new Object();
bool someBool = true;

// ...

object p = ObjectExtensions.SomeMethod(o, someBool);