C#, access child properties from parent reference?

Question

public void GetProps(Parent p){

   // want to access lots of child properties here
   string childProp1 = p.prop1;
   bool childProp2 = p.prop2;
   bool childProp3          


        

Answer 1

As I understood from your question, you want to access Children Class members from object of Parent Class.

This behavior is not allowed in OOP. One way can be as suggested by Jon Skeet to create a Abstract base class and implement the required members in Children Classes.

Other way round can be to assign the required values to members of base class in derived class constructor using base construct. I do not know this will solve your problem or not. But Consider the following snippet for example:

 public class BaseClass
{
    public string FirstName = "Base Class";
    public string LastName = "Base Class";
}

public class DerivedClass : BaseClass
{
    public DerivedClass()
    {
        base.LastName = "Derived Class";
    }
}

internal class Tester
{
    private static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        BaseClass objBaseClass = new BaseClass();
        Console.WriteLine("First Name : " + objBaseClass.FirstName);
        Console.WriteLine("Last Name : " + objBaseClass.LastName);

        DerivedClass objDerivedClass = new DerivedClass();
        Console.WriteLine("First Name : " + objDerivedClass.FirstName);
        Console.WriteLine("Last Name : " + objDerivedClass.LastName);

        BaseClass objBaseDerivedClass = new DerivedClass();
        Console.WriteLine("First Name : " + objBaseDerivedClass.FirstName);
        Console.WriteLine("Last Name : " + objBaseDerivedClass.LastName);

        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}

O/P First Name : Base Class

Last Name : Base Class

First Name : Base Class

Last Name : Derived Class

First Name : Base Class

Last Name : Derived Class

Let me know, if it helps out.