Using variables to refer to array indices in C#

Question

I'm working on some C# code where I have several files that use the same public variables (let's call these variables a, b, and c for now). Disclaimer: please don't berate me on the quality of the code, I didn't write it, it's simply my job to fix it. These variables are public and shared across all files, and should really be an array (a, b, and c all do the same thing, with slightly different properties). I am modifying the largest file of the bunch to take out all references to the variables and replace them with an array letters[], but other files contain disparate references to these variables. Is there any way to, in other files, define a variable or macro of some kind so that I don't have to change every reference in every file?

For example: In the biggest file "main.cs", I used to have:

    public string a;  
    public string b;  
    public string c;  
    a = "a";  
    b = "b";  
    c = "c";

but I fixed it to have:

    string[] letters;  
    letters[0] = "a";  
    //etc

Now, in file "small.cs", I have

    a = "hello world";  
    b = "goodbye world";

Instead of having to go through every single file, is there any way that I could just have 'a' be defined as the first element of letters (letters[0]), b reference letters[1], etc? This way, the program would still run, and in the small files, C# would know that any reference to 'a' really means a references to letters[0].

have you tried getters and setters ? – Gonzalo.- Aug 15 '12 at 19:55 — Gonzalo.-, Aug 15 '12 at 19:55

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 15 '12 at 19:55

6

Use a property:

public string A { get { return letters[0]; } }

answered Aug 15 '12 at 19:55

SLaks

868,454
176
1,908
1,964

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 15 '12 at 19:57

1

Reference them from a property:

public string a
{
     get
     {
           return letters[0];
     }
     set
     {
           letters[0] = value;
     }
}

answered Aug 15 '12 at 19:57

Dan Linus

94
3

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 15 '12 at 19:58

instead of writing

     public string a;
     public string b; 
     public string c;
     a = "a";
     b = "b";
     c = "c";

write

     private List<string> vals = new List<string>{ "a", "b", "c" };
     public string a { get { return vals[0]; } set { vals[0] = value; } }
     public string b { get { return vals[1]; } set { vals[1 = value; } }
     public string c { get { return vals[2]; } set { vals[2] = value; } }

Using variables to refer to array indices in C#

3 Answers3