.Net Set Class Constant to it's Namespace at compile time

Question

Is there a nice way to set a constant to be that of a classes namespace?

namespace ACMECompany.ACMEApp.Services
{
    public class MyService
    {
        private const string WhatWeDo = "ACMECompany.ACMEApp.Services";
        private const string WouldBeNice = typeof(MyService).Namespace;

        ...

    }
}

So that if the class if moved to another namespace we don't need to worry about these constants.

More Info The constant is only really used for logging - where it is passed to some log method. This is all legacy code so wont be changing in the short term. I am aware of runtime ways to get this information such as This Question

We're using .NET 4 but will be upgrading soon to .NET 4.5.

use read only instead. – Nikita Shrivastava Sep 30 '15 at 07:58 — Nikita Shrivastava, Sep 30 '15 at 07:58

Matías Fidemraizer · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-30T08:14:16.803

7

You're not going to set a constant variable with a non-constant value. This is understandable, isn't it?

BTW, C# has the readonly keyword, to turn any class field to work like a constant once object construction time ends. They can or can't be static:

public class MyService
{
    static MyService()
    {
         WouldBeNice = typeof(MyService).Namespace;
    }

    private static readonly string WouldBeNice;
}

or...

public class MyService
{
    private static readonly string WouldBeNice = typeof(MyService).Namespace;
}

Also, you can achieve the same behavior using read-only properties:

// Prior to C# 6...
public class MyService
{
     private static string WouldBeNice { get { return typeof(MyService).Namespace; } }
}

// Now using C# 6...
public class MyService
{
     private static string WouldBeNice => typeof(MyService).Namespace;
}

// Also using C# 6...
public class MyService
{
     // This can be even better, because this sets the namespace 
     // to the auto-generated backing class field created during compile-time
     private static string WouldBeNice { get; } = typeof(MyService).Namespace;
}

edited Sep 30 '15 at 08:14

answered Sep 30 '15 at 08:08

Matías Fidemraizer

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2

*You're not going to set a constant variable with a non-constant value* - but the namespace is known at compile-time, so it's not unimaginable for there to be some way to do this. – Rawling Sep 30 '15 at 08:23
@Rawling The namespace isn't know at compile time because its name is being accessed using reflection... which is a run-time concern :\ – Matías Fidemraizer Sep 30 '15 at 08:44
@Rawling It could be something like the new `nameof`operator like `namespaceof`... and this would be great ;P – Matías Fidemraizer Sep 30 '15 at 08:44
1

I'm pretty sure that when the compiler is compiling a class it knows what namespace that class is in... – Rawling Sep 30 '15 at 10:04
1

@Rawling This is the reason to suggest that it would be wonderful if C# 7 may introduce a `namespaceof` keyword !!! – Matías Fidemraizer Sep 30 '15 at 10:15
Heh, fair enough... Didn't notice the second comment was from you too! – Rawling Sep 30 '15 at 10:28

.Net Set Class Constant to it's Namespace at compile time

1 Answers1