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Understand Constructor and Types of Constructor in C# with examples

• By Gurunatha Dogi in C#
• Jun 9th, 2013
• 38744
• 1

What is a constructor?

Constructor is a method which gets executed automatically when we create or instantiate object of that class having constructor.

More Highlights of Constructor

A single class can have multiple constructors means we can have more than one constructor in a class. It is also called as overloaded constructor.

A benefit of using a constructor is that it guarantees that the object will go through a proper initialization before an object being used means we can pre-initialize some of the class variables with values before an object being used.

Constructors can either be static constructor or an instance constructor.

Constructors do not have any return types means. So there is no return type.

A constructor can be called another constructor by using "this" keyword. "this" keyword is the current instance of a class.

 

Syntax of a Constructor

Constructors are declared by using the same class name without any return type. An example is shown below.    

 
 class clsAddition{
        
           public clsAddition(){
           //Code goes here
           }
  }

 

Types of Constructors in C#

There are 5 types of constructor in C# as listed below

Default Constructor

Parameterized Constructor

Copy Constructor

Static Constructor

Private Constructor

 

Default Constructor

A constructor without any parameters is called as default constructor means a constructor which does not have any input parameter is known as default constructor.

Example of Default Constructor

 
 public class clsAddition{
 
          public int Mycode = 0;
          public clsAddition(){
	     Mycode = 9;
          }
  }

 class Program{

   static void Main(string[] args){
     clsAddition obj = new clsAddition();
     Consolw.WriteLine("Code value is : {0}",obj.Mycode);
   }
 }

 

Parameterized Constructor

A constructor having one or more parameters is called as parameterized constructor means a constructor which is having single input parameter or multiple input parameters of same data types or different data types are known as parameterized constructor.

Example of Parameterized Constructor

 
 public class clsAddition{

          public string itype = "";
	    public int x  = 0;
          public int y = 0;
          public clsAddition(string type, int a, int b){
	     itype = type;
           x = a;
           y = b;
          }
  }

 class Program{

   static void Main(string[] args){
     clsAddition obj = new clsAddition("Addition",7,2);
     Consolw.WriteLine("Type  is : {0}",obj.itype);
     Consolw.WriteLine("Variable 1 value is : {0}",obj.x);
     Consolw.WriteLine("Variable 2 value  is : {0}",obj.y);

   }
 }

 

Copy Constructor

A constructor that contains a parameter of same class type is called as copy constructor.

C# does not provide a copy constructor. A copy constructor enables you to copy the data stored in the member variables of an object of the class into another new object means it helps to copy data stored in one object into another new object of the same instance.

Example of Copy Constructor

 
    class Car
    {
        public string _nameofcar = "";
        public int _carno = 0;
        public double _carprice = 0;

        public Car(string NameofCar, int CarNumber, double CarPrice)
        {
            _nameofcar = NameofCar;
            _carno = CarNumber;
            _carprice = CarPrice;
        }

        //Copy Constructor
        public Car(Car objCar)
        {
            _nameofcar = objCar._nameofcar;
            _carno = objCar._carno;
            _carprice = objCar._carprice;
        }


    }

    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Car obj1 = new Car("BMW Sedan", 4545, 5000000);
            Car obj2 = new Car(obj1);
            Console.WriteLine("Car Name : {0}", obj2._nameofcar);
            Console.WriteLine("Car Number : {0}", obj2._carno);
            Console.WriteLine("Car Price : {0}", obj2._carprice);

        }
    }

 

Static Constructor

Static constructor should be parameter less means it should not contain any input parameter. Program will not execute if static constructor is having any input parameter.

Static constructor can be invoked once for any number instances are created and it is invoked only during the first initialization of instance. It is used to initialize static fields of the class

Static constructor is created using a static keyword as shown below.

 
  class clsAddition{

          static clsAddition(){
           ….Code goes here
          }
  }

Example of Static Constructor

 
    public class clsAddition
    {

        private int a = 0;
        private int b = 0;
        public static int _counter;

        public clsAddition(int x, int y)
        {
            a = x;
            b = y;
        }

        static clsAddition()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Static constructor is called");
            _counter++;
            Console.WriteLine("Counter Value is {0}", _counter);
        }

        public clsAddition()
        {
            a = 150;
            b = 160;
        }


        public void Display()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Addition Value is {0}", a + b);
        }


    }


    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
          
            clsAddition objadd = new clsAddition();
            clsAddition._counter = 9;
            objadd.Display();

            Console.WriteLine("\nSecond time calling a constructor \n");

            objadd = new clsAddition(10, 15);
            objadd.Display();

        }
    }

If you see in this example we have created instances 2 times and at a same time we tried to change the counter value but on the output if you see it is showing the same value as it was assigned during the first initialization process in the static constructor.

See the output

 

So it is concluded that static constructor can be invoked once for any number instances are created and it is invoked only during the first initialization process.

 

Private Constructor

A constructor with "private" access modifier in a class is called as private constructor.

A class with private constructor cannot be inherited.

We cannot create an object of the class which is having a private constructor. Program will not allow us to create an object of a class having private constructor.

A long with private constructor we can have a public constructor (overloaded constructor but not of the same type).

To access the methods or properties in a class with private constructor we can assign methods or properties with "static" keyword.

 
   public class clsEmployee
    {
     
        public static int emplcounter = 9;
        private clsEmployee()
        {
           
        }
       

    }

    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {

            Console.WriteLine("Counter value" + clsEmployee.emplcounter);

        }
    }

So this is all about the constructors in C#. If you have any doubt or query kindly let me know through your comments and if you like this post kindly share it with your friends.

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