Is there a VB.NET "With" statement in C#?

Question

Possible Duplicate: Equivalence of “With…End With” in C#?

So I don't know if this question has been asked before and I am not a big fan of VB.NET. But one syntax that I am missing in C# is the With syntax.

In VB.NET you can write:

Dim sb As New StringBuilder
With sb
    .Append("foo")
    .Append("bar")
    .Append("zap")
End With

Is there a syntax in C# that I have missed that does the same thing?

It it really much better to write that instead of `sb.Append("foo")`?? I'm programming for 12 years in VB.NET and have never understood the benefit of the with statement. Just another thing you must lookup everytime(What was that again?) — Tim Schmelter, Feb 28 '12 at 13:36
@TimSchmelter: I wonder the same thing. I code in VB.NET for the last 4 years maybe, and have never found a use for the With statement, except for the New...With construct. — Meta-Knight, Feb 28 '12 at 13:44

score 13 · Accepted Answer · edited May 12 '20 at 14:07

13

No, there isn't.

This was intentionally left out of C#, as it doesn't add much convenience, and because it can easily be used to write confusing code.

For the special case of a StringBuilder, you can chain the calls:

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder()
  .Append("foo")
  .Append("bar")
  .Append("zap");

edited May 12 '20 at 14:07

snipsnipsnip

answered Feb 28 '12 at 13:29

Guffa

4

Just out of curiosity, could you provide an example about a confusing VB.Net code that uses With/End With? – ken2k Feb 28 '12 at 13:33
you might also note that C# has the object initializer syntax, but it can only be used to set public instance variables, not make function calls. – Scott M. Feb 28 '12 at 13:53

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 28 '12 at 13:30

There is no direct analogue to the VB With statement.

However, note that StringBuilder.Append returns the StringBuilder instance, so the following code is equivalent to your original:

sb.Append("foo").Append("bar").Append("zap");

or even

sb.Append("foo")
  .Append("bar")
  .Append("zap");

This is not possible for all objects/methods, though.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 28 '12 at 13:28

2

No, there is no equivalent syntax.

With is VB/VB.NET only.

answered Feb 28 '12 at 13:28

Oded

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 28 '12 at 13:55

2

There is an equivalent for New Type With:

var obj = new Type {
    PropName = Value,
    PropName = Value
};

, but not for the common With.

answered Feb 28 '12 at 13:55

dice · Answer 5 · 2014-10-17T08:18:19.633

0

There isn't - this is Visual Basic-only.

One of the prime reasons it was left out of C# was that it can lead to confusing code, for example when using nested With statements.

edited Oct 17 '14 at 08:18

answered Feb 28 '12 at 13:30

dice

The link appears to be broken – Toby Allen May 13 '12 at 08:39
The links appears to be (effectively) broken - it redirects to a non-specific page. – Peter Mortensen Oct 01 '14 at 14:09

5 Answers5