Extension interface patterns

Question

The new extensions in .Net 3.5 allow functionality to be split out from interfaces.

For instance in .Net 2.0

public interface IHaveChildren {
    str         


        

Answer 1

I see separating the domain/model and UI/view functionality using extension methods as a good thing, especially since they can reside in separate namespaces.

For example:

namespace Model
{
    class Person
    {
        public string Title { get; set; }
        public string FirstName { get; set; }
        public string Surname { get; set; }
    }
}

namespace View
{
    static class PersonExtensions
    {
        public static string FullName(this Model.Person p)
        {
            return p.Title + " " + p.FirstName + " " + p.Surname;
        }

        public static string FormalName(this Model.Person p)
        {
            return p.Title + " " + p.FirstName[0] + ". " + p.Surname;
        }
    }
}

This way extension methods can be used similarly to XAML data templates. You can't access private/protected members of the class but it allows the data abstraction to be maintained without excessive code duplication throughout the application.