How can we generate getters and setters in Visual Studio?

Question

By "generate", I mean auto-generation of the code necessary for a particular selected (set of) variable(s).

But any more explicit explication or comment on good practice is welcome.

score 335 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 09 '19 at 18:02

335

Rather than using Ctrl + K, X you can also just type prop and then hit Tab twice.

edited Dec 09 '19 at 18:02

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 06 '08 at 02:43

Orion Edwards

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And don't forget "propg" + tab which generates the same, but with a private setter. – Andrew M Nov 17 '09 at 09:31
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See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/z41h7fat.aspx for more useful code snippets in Visual C# – Tito Jun 22 '15 at 10:04
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"propfull" + tab, generates getter + setter + variable – M. Kjaer Jan 09 '23 at 12:32

score 54 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:21

54

Visual Studio also has a feature that will generate a Property from a private variable.

If you right-click on a variable, in the context menu that pops up, click on the "Refactor" item, and then choose Encapsulate Field.... This will create a getter/setter property for a variable.

I'm not too big a fan of this technique as it is a little bit awkward to use if you have to create a lot of getters/setters, and it puts the property directly below the private field, which bugs me, because I usually have all of my private fields grouped together, and this Visual Studio feature breaks my class' formatting.

edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:21

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 06 '08 at 02:52

Dan Herbert

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10

Unfortunately, this option is not given by the express editions of Visual Studio. – Toby May 11 '12 at 07:11
12

there is shourtcut too - I preffer this way :) - CTRL+R+E – Vukasin Oct 15 '13 at 18:05

score 49 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:29

I use Visual Studio 2013 Professional.

Place your cursor at the line of an instance variable.
Press combine keys Ctrl + R, Ctrl + E, or click the right mouse button. Choose context menu Refactor → Encapsulate Field..., and then press OK.
In Preview Reference Changes - Encapsulate Field dialog, press button Apply.
This is result:

You also place the cursor for choosing a property. Use menu Edit → Refactor → Encapsulate Field...

Other information:

Since C# 3.0 (November 19th 2007), we can use auto-implemented properties (this is merely syntactic sugar).

And

private int productID;

public int ProductID
{
    get { return productID; }
    set { productID = value; }
}

becomes

public int ProductID { get; set; }

score 30 · Answer 4 · edited Dec 09 '19 at 19:59

30

You can also use "propfull" and hit TAB twice.

The variable and property with get and set will be generated.

edited Dec 09 '19 at 19:59

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 17 '12 at 10:59

Chirag Khatsuriya

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this is the more useful one and I always forget it – Dave Alperovich Jul 25 '13 at 22:12
1

I'm doing XML serialization and spawning a ton of properties all over the show. +100septillion upvotes if I could. Thanks!Edit- EVEN BETTER, autohotkey script + ^this = productivity over 90000! – Eon Jul 21 '14 at 11:41
[Video demonstrating the use of snippet 'propfull'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhxC-K-Eehg&lc=UgyiQqiNVxFQAPQr9jt4AaABAg&t=4m11s) (among other things), at 4 min 11 secs. – Peter Mortensen Dec 09 '19 at 20:04

score 29 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 06 '08 at 02:31

By generate, do you mean auto-generate? If that's not what you mean:

Visual Studio 2008 has the easiest implementation for this:

public PropertyType PropertyName { get; set; }

In the background this creates an implied instance variable to which your property is stored and retrieved.

However if you want to put in more logic in your Properties, you will have to have an instance variable for it:

private PropertyType _property;

public PropertyType PropertyName
{
    get
    {
        //logic here 
        return _property;
    }
    set
    {
        //logic here
        _property = value;
    }
 }

Previous versions of Visual Studio always used this longhand method as well.

Is not the standard in C# is the lower dash after the member name `property_` instead of before `_property` ? — Julen, Mar 30 '11 at 14:00

Adil Malik · Answer 6 · 2023-09-01T17:21:17.247

23

As of visual studio 2019, select your properties like this:

Then press Ctrl+r Then press Ctrl+e

A dialog will appear showing you the preview of the changes that are going to happen to your code. If everything looks good (which it mostly will), press OK.

edited Sep 01 '23 at 17:21

answered Dec 25 '19 at 23:38

Adil Malik

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I think this should be set as the selected answer as the question asks for auto-generation of code snippet for a "selected set of variables." – precise Jan 28 '21 at 13:35

score 6 · Answer 7 · edited Dec 09 '19 at 18:07

6

If you are using Visual Studio 2005 and up, you can create a setter/getter real fast using the insert snippet command.

Right click on your code, click on Insert Snippet (Ctrl+K,X), and then choose "prop" from the list.

edited Dec 09 '19 at 18:07

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 06 '08 at 02:35

omar

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score 4 · Answer 8 · edited Dec 09 '19 at 19:49

4

If you're using ReSharper, go into the ReSharper menu → Code → Generate...

(Or hit Alt + Ins inside the surrounding class), and you'll get all the options for generating getters and/or setters you can think of :-)

edited Dec 09 '19 at 19:49

Peter Mortensen

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answered Sep 28 '09 at 17:56

Oliver

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score 3 · Answer 9 · edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:15

I created my own snippet that only adds {get; set;}. I made it just because I find prop → Tab to be clunky.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CodeSnippets
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
    <CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
        <Header>
            <Title>get set</Title>
            <Shortcut>get</Shortcut>
        </Header>
        <Snippet>
            <Code Language="CSharp">
                <![CDATA[{get; set;}]]>
            </Code>
        </Snippet>
    </CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

With this, you type your PropType and PropName manually, then type get → Tab, and it will add the get set. It's nothing magical, but since I tend to type my access modifier first anyway, I may as well finish out the name and type.

score 3 · Answer 10 · edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:33

3

In Visual Studio Community Edition 2015 you can select all the fields you want and then press Ctrl + . to automatically generate the properties.

You have to choose if you want to use the property instead of the field or not.

edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:33

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 06 '17 at 22:04

Tito Leiva

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score 2 · Answer 11 · edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:05

2

Use the propfull keyword.

It will generate a property and a variable.

Type keyword propfull in the editor, followed by two TABs. It will generate code like:

private data_type var_name;

public data_type var_name1{ get;set;}

Video demonstrating the use of snippet 'propfull' (among other things), at 4 min 11 secs.

edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:05

Peter Mortensen

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answered Sep 25 '14 at 03:16

avinash kadu

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please provide more information about your answer, answers with short description is not OK for next visitors... – Kiyarash Sep 25 '14 at 03:22
type keyword propfull in editor it will generate code like private data_type var_name; public data_type var_name1{ get;set;} – avinash kadu Sep 29 '14 at 12:24
Can you add a reference for "propfull" (by [editing your answer](https://stackoverflow.com/posts/26029899/edit), not here in comments)? – Peter Mortensen Dec 09 '19 at 20:06

score 1 · Answer 12 · edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:19

1

In addition to the 'prop' snippet and auto-properties, there is a refactor option to let you select an existing field and expose it via a property (right click on the field → Refactor → Encapsulate Field...).

Also, if you don't like the 'prop' implementation, you can create your own snippets. Additionally, a third-party refactoring tool like ReSharper will give you even more features and make it easier to create more advanced snippets. I'd recommend ReSharper if you can afford it.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f7d3wz0k(VS.80).aspx
Video demonstrating the use of snippet 'prop' (among other things), at 3 min 23 secs.

edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:19

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 12 '09 at 15:22

Daniel

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The first link redirects to *[Visual Studio 2005 Retired documentation](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=55984)*. Which one of [the ten](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=55984) did it refer to? Presumably, it is a description of how to use snippets in Visual Studio. – Peter Mortensen Dec 09 '19 at 18:48

score 0 · Answer 13 · edited Dec 09 '19 at 18:05

I don't have Visual Studio installed on my machine anymore (and I'm using Linux), but I do remember that there was an wizard hidden somewhere inside one of the menus that gave access to a class builder.

With this wizard, you could define all your classes' details, including methods and attributes. If I remember well, there was an option through which you could ask Visual Studio to create the setters and getters automatically for you.

I know it's quite vague, but check it out and you might find it.

score 0 · Answer 14 · edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:35

0

On behalf of the Visual Studio tool, we can easily generate C# properties using an online tool called C# property generator.

edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:35

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 14 '17 at 12:04

DotNetLover

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useless feature – SeReGa Dec 12 '18 at 07:49

score 0 · Answer 15 · edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:49

0

First get Extension just press (Ctrl + Shift + X) and install getter setter ....

After this, just select your variable and right click. Go to Command palette...

And type getter ... It will suggest generate get and set methods. Click on this...

edited Dec 09 '19 at 20:49

Peter Mortensen

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answered Dec 17 '18 at 08:33

Sejpalsinh Jadeja

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What do you mean by *"First get Extension"*? – Peter Mortensen Dec 09 '19 at 20:49
In which context should Ctrl + Shift + X be pressed? – Peter Mortensen Dec 09 '19 at 20:51

score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Jun 19 '22 at 21:36

0

I personaly use CTRL+. and then select- "Encapsulated Fildes". That's a short for this option- (How can we generate getters and setters in Visual Studio?).

I marked the short for auto choosing refactoring (CTRL+. )

answered Jun 19 '22 at 21:36

malu

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How can we generate getters and setters in Visual Studio?

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