Is it possible to inherit comments in an abstract method's body from a BaseClass?

Question

I have the PersonBaseClass and the EmployeeClass that derives from it. Now I'd like to define a method body as a comment in the BaseClass that when I use Resharper's "Implement Members" (or manually implement them) it also puts it in the method body.

Something (roughly) like that:

public abstract class PersonBaseClass : DependencyObject
{
   //<methodComment>
   // object connectionString;
   // _configurations.TryGetValue("ConnectionString", out connectionString);
   //</methodComment>
   protected abstract void InstanceOnPersonChanged(object sender, EventArgs eventArgs);
}

That when implemented will look like that:

public class EmployeeClass : PersonBaseClass
{
    protected override void InstanceOnPersonChanged(object sender, EventArgs eventArgs)
    {
        // object connectionString;
        // _configurations.TryGetValue("ConnectionString", out connectionString);
    }
}

Is that already possible somehow ? Couldn't get this to work with GhostDoc.

Edit: It would be useful as I want to have the BaseClass in a library and the implementation of it usually looks the same every time.

Ghost doc is good enough to pull the base class member's comment to overridden member's *comment*. You seem to asking for embedding the comment inside the method. It is unlikely this feature might be available as what you're asking is strange. — Sriram Sakthivel, Sep 03 '14 at 13:51
@Sriram Sakthivel: and how can I do that ? I also edited my question above for an explanation for what I'd use this for. — mYnDstrEAm, Sep 03 '14 at 13:59
If "the implementation of it usually looks the same every time", why not make it a virtual method and only change it (i.e. override it), when it's really different? -- Or split the method, so that only the part, that really *is* different, is in an abstract method. — Corak, Sep 03 '14 at 14:05

Sriram Sakthivel · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-12T06:02:12.170

Not exactly what you're asking, but you can pull the comments using Ghostdoc to the inherited members. Note that it will not add the comments to derived class method's body but it will add it in its comment section.

Assume you have a class like this, with comment Hey, this is great method :)

public abstract class PersonBaseClass
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Hey, this is great method :)
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="sender">The sender.</param>
    /// <param name="eventArgs">The <see cref="EventArgs" /> instance containing the event data.</param>
    protected abstract void InstanceOnPersonChanged(object sender, EventArgs eventArgs);
}

Then you add derived class and override the member like this

public class EmployeeClass : PersonBaseClass
{
    protected override void InstanceOnPersonChanged(object sender, EventArgs eventArgs)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
}

Then place the cursor inside the derived class member's body and press ctrl + shift + d. It will pull the comments from base class.

And your derived class will look something like this after performing above step.

public class EmployeeClass : PersonBaseClass
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Hey, this is great method :)
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="sender">The sender.</param>
    /// <param name="eventArgs">The <see cref="EventArgs" /> instance containing the event data.</param>
    /// <exception cref="System.NotImplementedException"></exception>
    protected override void InstanceOnPersonChanged(object sender, EventArgs eventArgs)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
}

Thank you! That's just what I needed. It's not that important whether or not the comment is inside the method's body. — mYnDstrEAm, Sep 03 '14 at 14:21
Is it possible to somehow indicate that a method has this sort of attached comment or is pressing ctrl + shift + d the only way to find out ? — mYnDstrEAm, Sep 03 '14 at 14:24
@mYnDstrEAm AFAIK there is not. Hunt for it, I was not aware of such thing. — Sriram Sakthivel, Sep 03 '14 at 14:36

Is it possible to inherit comments in an abstract method's body from a BaseClass?

1 Answers1