What really is the purpose of "base" keyword in c#?

ACP picture ACP · Apr 15, 2010 · Viewed 52.6k times · Source

Thus for used base class for some commom reusable methods in every page of my application...

public class BaseClass:System.Web.UI.Page
{
   public string GetRandomPasswordUsingGUID(int length)
   {
      string guidResult = System.Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
      guidResult = guidResult.Replace("-", string.Empty);
      return guidResult.Substring(0, length);
   }
}

So if i want to use this method i would just do,

public partial class forms_age_group : BaseClass
{
      protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
      {
            //i would just call it like this
            string pass = GetRandomPasswordUsingGUID(10);
      }
}

It does what i want but there is a "Base" keyword that deals with base class in c# ... I really want to know when should use base keyword in my derived class....

Any good example...

Answer

Matti Virkkunen picture Matti Virkkunen · Apr 15, 2010

The base keyword is used to refer to the base class when chaining constructors or when you want to access a member (method, property, anything) in the base class that has been overridden or hidden in the current class. For example,

class A {
    protected virtual void Foo() {
        Console.WriteLine("I'm A");
    }
}

class B : A {
    protected override void Foo() {
        Console.WriteLine("I'm B");
    }

    public void Bar() {
        Foo();
        base.Foo();
    }
}

With these definitions,

new B().Bar();

would output

I'm B
I'm A