C# Execute code before constructor

Question

I'd like to automagically execute some code before certain class constructor gets executed (to load some externall assmebly that class requires), all in C#, .NET 2.0

EDIT:

public class MyClass 
{
    ThisTypeFromExternalAssembly variable;
}

And what I really need is to have assembly loader that is 'attached' somehow to MyClass, to load externall assembly when it is needed. This must happen before constructor, but I would not like to need to call some Init() before constructing MyClass() object

Answer 1

You can use the static initialiser for the class:

static ClassName( )
{

}

This will be called before any instances of ClassName are constructed.

Given the update you would do:

public class MyClass
{
    ThisTypeFromExternalAssembly variable;

    static MyClass( )
    {
        InitialiseExternalLibrary( );
    }

    public MyClass( )
    {
         variable = new ThisTypeFromExternalAssembly( );
    }
}

Answer 2

Could you use a static constructor for this?

class SimpleClass
{
    // Static constructor
    static SimpleClass()
    {
        //...
    }
}

From the MSDN article:

A static constructor is used to initialize any static data, or to perform a particular action that needs performed once only. It is called automatically before the first instance is created or any static members are referenced.