What is the equivalent of a 'friend' keyword in C Sharp?
How do I use the 'internal' keyword?
I have read that 'internal' keyword is a replacement for 'friend' in C#.
I am using a DLL in my C# project that I have the source code for and yet I do not want to modify the existing code. I have inherited the class and I can use my inherited class any way I want. The problem is that most of the code in the parent class has protected methods. Will using a friend somehow make it possible to access or call these protected methods?
You can use the keyword access modifier internal
to declare a type or type member as accessible to code in the same assembly only.
You can use the InternalsVisibleToAttribute
class defined in System.Rutime.CompilerServices
to declare a type as accessible to code in the same assembly or a specified assembly only.
You use the first as you use any other access modifier such as private
. To wit:
internal class MyClass {
...
}
You use the second as follows:
[assembly:InternalsVisibleTo("MyFriendAssembly", PublicKey="...")]
internal class MyVisibleClass {
...
}
Both of these can rightly be considered the equivalent of friend
in C#.
Methods that are protected
are already available to derived classes.