Protected readonly field vs protected property

Question

I have an abstract class and I\'d like to initialize a readonly field in its protected constructor. I\'d like this readonly field to be available in derived classes.

Answer 1

Using reflection you can overwrite the readonly field with ease. Using a property makes it harder because the field is hidden ( You can still do it ). So i would prefer a property which is anyway the cleaner because you can change the getter without any issues.

If you're thinking about performance: Properties are inlined most times.

Override readonly's

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Test t = new Test();
        t.OverrideReadonly("TestField", 5);
        t.OverrideReadonly("TestField2", 6);
        t.OverrideReadonly("TestField3", new Test());
    }
}

class Test
{
    protected readonly Int32 TestField = 1;
    protected readonly Int32 TestField2 = 2;
    protected readonly Test TestField3 = null;

    public void OverrideReadonly(String fieldName, Object value)
    {
        FieldInfo field = typeof(Test).GetField(fieldName, System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Public | System.Reflection.BindingFlags.NonPublic | System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Instance);
        field.SetValue(this, value);
    }
}