Home How can I directly access my base class property in the derived class without using methods or constructors?

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How can I directly access my base class property in the derived class without using methods or constructors?

August 15, 2022

class Animal
    {
        public bool isHungry { get; set; }
        public int Age { get; set; }
        public string Name { get; set; }
    }    
class Dog : Animal
    {
        Age = 5; //Gives error, "Age doesnt exist in current context"
        public Dog()
        {
            Age = 5;//Works fine
            Console.WriteLine("Dog");
        }
    }

I want to access the public properties directly, is it not possible?

>Solution :

Code must be within methods – if you want to set a default value for all Dog instances then the constructor is the proper place to do that.

You could make the base property virtual and then override it in Dog with a default value:

class Animal
{
    public bool isHungry { get; set; }
    public virtual int Age { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
}    
class Dog : Animal
{
    public override int Age {get; set;} = 5; 
    public Dog()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Dog");
    }
}

but that seems like overkill in this simple example.