automatic property with default value [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How do you give a C# Auto-Property a default value?

Is there any nice way to provide a default value for an automatic property?

public int HowHigh { get; set; } // defaults to 0

If not explicitly set anywhere, I want it to be 5. Do you know a simple way for it? E.g. I could set it in constructor or something, but that's not elegant.

UPDATE: C# 6 has got it: http://geekswithblogs.net/WinAZ/archive/2015/06/30/whatrsquos-new-in-c-6.0-auto-property-initializers.aspx

Answer 1

No, there isn't any nice way of doing this - basically you have to set it in the constructor, which isn't pleasant.

There are various limitations to automatic properties like this - my biggest gripe is that there isn't a way to create a read-only automatic property which can be set in the constructor but nowhere else (and backed by a readonly field).

Answer 2

Best you can do is set it in the constructor, you cannot make changes within automatic properties, you will need a backing field and implement the setter/getter yourself otherwise.

Using a backing field you can write something like this:

private int _howHigh = 0;
public int HowHigh { get {return _howHigh; }  set { _howHigh = value; } }