WebControl's constructor does not have correct attribute value

Question

I want the constructor of my WebControl to be able to access the value of IsSpecial (from the HTML). However, it's always false. I assume that it's false in the constructor because it doesn't read the value until after the constructor method is over. Is there a way to have it so it knows the correct value of IsSpecial in the constructor?

C#:

[DefaultProperty("Text")]
[ToolboxData("<{0}:WebControlExample runat=server></{0}:WebControlExample>")]
public class WebControlExample: WebControl, INamingContainer
{
    private readonly int[] goodies;

    public WebControlExample()
    {
        if (this.isSpecial)
        {
            goodies = new int[24];
        }
        else
        {
            //always reaches here
            goodies = new int[48];
        }
    }

    private bool isSpecial= false;
    public bool IsSpecial
    {
        set
        {
            this.isSpecial= value;
        }
    }
}

HTML:

<xyz:WebControlExamplerunat="server" id="webControlExample" IsSpecial="true" />

Answer 1

This isn't a great solution, but if you have to have a readonly array, you could have two readonly arrays and wrap them in an accessor:

[DefaultProperty("Text")]
[ToolboxData("<{0}:WebControlExample runat=server></{0}:WebControlExample>")]
public class WebControlExample: WebControl, INamingContainer
{
    private readonly int[] goodies = new int[48];
    private readonly int[] goodiesSpecial = new int[24];

    private bool isSpecial= false;
    public bool IsSpecial
    {
        set
        {
            this.isSpecial= value;
        }
    }

    private int[] Goodies
    {
         get {return isSpecial ? goodiesSpecial : goodies;}
    }
}

But you haven't stated 1. Why you need two different-sized arrays or 2. What you're doing with them.