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.NET Forum / .NET Framework / CLR / February 2005Copy constructor for structs.
It is my understanding that structs are value types in .NET and are not passed by reference. However, if the struct contains objects, they will still be copied by reference. Is there any way to provide a copy constructor for a struct that will automatically clone any objects that are contained within it?  Signature----------------------------------- Ken Varn Senior Software Engineer Diebold Inc. EmailID = varnk Domain = Diebold.com ----------------------------------- > It is my understanding that structs are value types in .NET and are not > passed by reference. They can be passed by reference, if you choose to. Note that there's a big difference between passing a value by reference and passing a reference by value. See http://www.pobox.com/~skeet/csharp/parameters.html > However, if the struct contains objects, they will > still be copied by reference. Is there any way to provide a copy > constructor for a struct that will automatically clone any objects that are > contained within it? You could certainly create a constructor for a struct that takes another struct of the same type - but that won't be called when the struct is passed. SignatureJon Skeet - <skeet@pobox.com> http://www.pobox.com/~skeet If replying to the group, please do not mail me too So are you saying that there is no way for a structure to be able to automatically clone members that are objects if the structure is passed by value? In C++, a copy constructor takes care of this quite nicely. Is there no equivalent in .NET? Signature----------------------------------- Ken Varn Senior Software Engineer Diebold Inc. EmailID = varnk Domain = Diebold.com ----------------------------------- > > It is my understanding that structs are value types in .NET and are not > > passed by reference. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > another struct of the same type - but that won't be called when the > struct is passed. > So are you saying that there is no way for a structure to be able to > automatically clone members that are objects if the structure is passed by > value? Indeed I am. (Or rather, members are cloned, but only at the shallowest level.) > In C++, a copy constructor takes care of this quite nicely. Is > there no equivalent in .NET? No, there isn't - at least not in C#, as far as I know. Managed C++ *might* have something similar. SignatureJon Skeet - <skeet@pobox.com> http://www.pobox.com/~skeet If replying to the group, please do not mail me too
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