How to use properties to expose a private array as read-only?

Question

What does the following code do?

class MyClass {
    private int[] myPrivates;
    public int[] GetMyPrivates
    {
      get { return myPrivates; }
    }

    protected int[] SetMyPrivates
    {
      set { myPrivates = value; }
    }
}

Is there a better way of protecting the array myPrivates? Is it possible to make it reat-only?

Answer 1

You could replace your getters and setters with a property this way:

class MyClass {
    public int[] MyValues { get; protected set; }

    public MyClass() {
        MyValues = new [] {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
    }

    public void foo {
        foreach (int i in MyValues) {
            Trace.WriteLine(i.ToString());
        }
    }
}

MyOtherClass {
    MyClass myClass;

    // ...
    void bar {
        // You can access the MyClass values in read outside of MyClass, 
        // because of the public property, but not in write because 
        // of the protected setter.
        foreach (int i in myClass.MyValues) {
            Trace.WriteLine(i.ToString());
        }
    }
}

You can add pretty much any protection level that is less that the one of the property to getters and setters.