c# Activator.CreateInstance does not initialize vars

Question

Having Remember.cs:

namespace Tasks
{
    public class Remember : Task
    {
        new public string name = typeof(Remember).Name;
        new public Task.Priority priority = Task.Priority.High;
    }
}

Task.cs:

public abstract class Task
{
    public string name;
    public Task.Priority priority = Task.Priority.Low;

    public enum Priority
    {
        High = 3,
        Medium = 2,
        Low = 1,
    }
}

When i create an instance of this class by using:

Task task = (Task)Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(Remember));
Debug.Log(task.name + " - " + task.priority);

Task's name is null and priority is the lowest number available in Task.Priority enum rather than the selected one (High).

Why does Activator.CreateInstance not initialize those vars?

Answer 1

You are re-declaring the variables in your subclass (via the new keyword), which gives you a separate set of variables than your Task class. Instead, you should set the Task variables directly from the constructor of the Remember class.

namespace Tasks
{
    public class Remember : Task
    {
        public Remember()
        {
            name = typeof(Remember).Name;
            priority = Task.Priority.High;
        }
    }
}

As others have pointed out, this has nothing to do with Activator.CreateInstance. You get the same behavior when you use new Remember().