Interface methods show as private

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Today I coded my first dictionary class, a ReadOnlyDictionary(TKey, TValue) which inherited from IDictionary(TKey, TValue). I implemented all the methods he asked for, all the properties that are needed and when I was done it all compiled nicely. (I followed the instructions from Blackwasp ReadOnlyDictionary[^].)

And then I wanted to use it... But all methods and properties show up as private and thus I cannot access them.

A little example from my dictionary code:

C#

bool ICollection<keyvaluepair><tkey,>>.Contains(KeyValuePair<tkey,> item)
{
    return _dictionary.Contains(item);
}

Posted 31-Aug-11 22:49pm

KenBonny

Updated 31-Aug-11 22:55pm

Prerak Patel

v2

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3 solutions

Solution 2

The default scope of a Class, Property, Field, Method is private, so you'll need to tell the compiler that the method is public by writing public before your method declaration e.g. public void MyMethod{ }

If you have implemented the .NET interface IDictionary<TKey, TValue>[^] then your code wont even compile if the methods and properties aren't public as the interface is public and thus so must the methods and properties.

Posted 31-Aug-11 23:00pm

Simon Bang Terkildsen

Updated 31-Aug-11 23:01pm

v2

Solution 3

You are implementing an interface, so you need to implement all the methods.

Creating an instance of the custom dictionary should give you access to the public methods.

Posted 31-Aug-11 23:02pm

Abhinav S

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Prerak Patel · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-31T22:54:00

Solution 1

If you would have followed that link, it wouldn't be a problem.
It has all the methods with public modifier.

C#

public bool Contains(KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue> item)
{
    return _dictionary.Contains(item);
}

You have not mentioned it in your method.

Posted 31-Aug-11 22:54pm

Prerak Patel

Comments

KenBonny 1-Sep-11 5:12am

I see now what I did wrong. And I learned something here, let me share that with you:

If you implement an interface, apparently you can implement it two ways.

The first is like Prerak wrote, this will give you the function as a publicly available method.
The other way is like my way. If you use it without the public but with a reference to ICollection, then it is implemented as a private method and is hidden from the outside world. This way you can implement a part of an interface without getting compiler errors.

I let ReSharper generate the method signatures for me, and it implemented them as I did in my question. My very attentive mind skipped the part of the signatures and left them as private implementations.

Simon Bang Terkildsen 1-Sep-11 11:47am

No it is NOT private even when you implement the method explicitly. If you cast your object to IDictionary<tkey,> then you can use that method anywhere thus the method is NOT private.