What is the use of static constructors?

c# constructor static-constructor
Dr. Rajesh Rolen picture Dr. Rajesh Rolen · Dec 22, 2010 · Viewed 182.8k times · Source

Please explain to me the use of static constructor. Why and when would we create a static constructor and is it possible to overload one?

Answer

Marc Gravell picture Marc Gravell · Dec 22, 2010

No you can't overload it; a static constructor is useful for initializing any static fields associated with a type (or any other per-type operations) - useful in particular for reading required configuration data into readonly fields, etc.

It is run automatically by the runtime the first time it is needed (the exact rules there are complicated (see "beforefieldinit"), and changed subtly between CLR2 and CLR4). Unless you abuse reflection, it is guaranteed to run at most once (even if two threads arrive at the same time).

Related questions

Calling the base constructor in C#

If I inherit from a base class and want to pass something from the constructor of the inherited class to the constructor of the base class, how do I do that? For example, if I inherit from the Exception class …

Read More
What is the best way to give a C# auto-property an initial value?

How do you give a C# auto-property an initial value? I either use the constructor, or revert to the old syntax. Using the Constructor: class Person { public Person() { Name = "Initial Name"; } public string Name { get; set; } } Using normal property syntax (…

Read More
Call one constructor from another

I have two constructors which feed values to readonly fields. public class Sample { public Sample(string theIntAsString) { int i = int.Parse(theIntAsString); _intField = i; } public Sample(int theInt) => _intField = theInt; public int IntProperty => _intField; private readonly int _intField; } …

Read More