reference types in instantiated objects

[DS]

I've got a question about how I can go about nesting a reference type in
an object of an instantiated class alongside value types. This may seem
a bit vague so I'll give an example:

public class Cow
{
private string farm;
private int brandNumber;
public Cow()
{
farm = "Old MacDonald";
brandNumber = 0;
}
public string Farm
{
get { return farm; }
set { farm = value; }
}
public int BrandNumber
{
get { return brandNumber; }
set { brandNumber = value; }
}
}

then elsewhere...
Cow milk = new Cow();
milk.BrandNumber = 57;
Cow beef = milk;
//beef.BrandNumber = 95;
now here's what I want: I need them to both share the same Farm name so
that when the farm is changed for either it changes for all. This will
happen as this stands because "Cow beef = milk;" point to the same
place; unfortunately the brand number is not independent like this...

The trick is I need them to have independent BrandNumbers which means I
really need to declare it as "Cow Beef = new Cow();", but then I don't
have them sharing a reference to the same Farm. I cannot use a static
for the Farm because elsewhere I may have other Cows in another farm.

How can I do this in C#? Is there a way to change the farm value type to
a reference type?

Thanks a bunch in advance
-Dan
*apologies to the vegetarians/vegans, no cows were harmed in the
creation of this ;-)

 

[Truong Hong Thi]

I suggest you create a class, e.g. CowFarm

public class CowFarm
{
private string name;
// omit constructors and properties
}

public class Cow
{
private CowFarm farm;

// omit constructors and properties
}

To make them share a farm:
cow1.Farm = cow2.Farm;

To change name that affect both cows:
cow1.Farm.Name = "Mac2";

 

[chechy]

you can use
public static string Farm;

 

[Richard Blewett [DevelopMentor]]

you can use
public static string Farm;

However, this would mean that *all* cows belong to the same farm rather than
being able to have different groups of cows at different farms

Regards

Richard Blewett - DevelopMentor
http://www.dotnetconsult.co.uk/weblog
http://www.dotnetconsult.co.uk

 

[Guest]

conceptually, i prefer to do it in the following flavour IMO

public class Farm {
List<Cow> cows;
//...
}

public class Cow {
Farm farmOfTheCow;
public Cow(Farm farm) {
}

}

regards