Override methods should call base method?
- by Trevor Pilley
I'm just running NDepend against some code that I have written and one of the warnings is Overrides of Method() should call base.Method().
The places this occurs are where I have a base class which has virtual properties and methods with default behaviour but which can be overridden by a class which inherits from the base class and doesn't call the overridden method.
For example, in the base class I have a property defined like this:
protected virtual char CloseQuote
{
get
{
return '"';
}
}
And then in an inheriting class which uses a different close quote:
protected override char CloseQuote
{
get
{
return ']';
}
}
Not all classes which inherit from the base class use different quote characters hence my initial design.
The alternatives I thought of were have get/set properties in the base class with the defaults set in the constructor:
protected BaseClass()
{
this.CloseQuote = '"';
}
protected char CloseQuote { get; set; }
public InheritingClass()
{
this.CloseQuote = ']';
}
Or make the base class require the values as constructor args:
protected BaseClass(char closeQuote, ...)
{
this.CloseQuote = '"';
}
protected char CloseQuote { get; private set; }
public InheritingClass()
base (closeQuote: ']', ...)
{
}
Should I use virtual in a scenario where the base implementation may be replaced instead of extended or should I opt for one of the alternatives I thought of? If so, which would be preferable and why?
