Virtual functions

Question

I don\'t really understand - when am I supposed to use virtual functions?I\'ll be glad if someone could explain it to me, thanks.

Answer 1

Given a base class:

class SomeBaseClass()
{
    public virtual string GetName()
    {
         return "SomeBaseClass";
    }
}

When you override it, you inherit the function

class SomeDerivedClass() : SomeBaseClass
{
}

So when you say:

SomeDerivedClass sdc = new SomeDerivedClass();
Console.WriteLine(sdc.GetName()); //outputs "SomeBaseClass"

GetName() returns "SomeBaseClass"

You can, however, override it.

class SomeDerivedClass()
{
    public override string GetName()
    {
         return "SomeDerivedClass";
    }
}

Here GetName() will now return "SomeDerivedClass"