C# Optional Array Parameter for Class

Question

I know this can be done using null so I have a workaround for that, but I was wondering if there was a better way that I can have an optional int[] parameter for a class?

class PriceLevels
{
    public int[] priceLevels { get; }
    private readonly int[] defaultPriceLevels = { 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6 };

    public PriceLevels(int[] newPriceLevels = defaultPriceLevels)
    {
        priceLevels = newPriceLevels;
    }
}

This gives me an error saying it is an invalid expression defaultPriceLevels must be constant. How can I fix this?

One workaround that I can thing of is this, but I don't really like the solution

class PriceLevels
{
    public int[] priceLevels { get; }
    private readonly int[] defaultPriceLevels = { 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6 };

    public PriceLevels(int[] newPriceLevels = null)
    {
        if(newPriceLevels == null) 
            priceLevels = defaultPriceLevels;
        else 
            priceLevels = newPriceLevels;
    }
}

Answer 1

A better design all together would be to have 2 constructors (constructor overload) one that gets a int[] and another that doesn't:

class PriceLevels
{
    public int[] priceLevels { get; set; }
    private readonly int[] defaultPriceLevels = { 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6 };

    public PriceLevels()
    {
        priceLevels = defaultPriceLevels;
    }

    public PriceLevels(int[] newPriceLevels)
    {
       priceLevels = newPriceLevels;
    }
}

If not, don't know if i'd call this "better" but you can use the params keyword:

class PriceLevels
{
    public int[] priceLevels { get; set; }
    private readonly int[] defaultPriceLevels = { 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6 };

    public PriceLevels(params int[] newPriceLevels)
    {
        priceLevels = newPriceLevels.Length == 0 ? defaultPriceLevels : newPriceLevels;
    }
}

Also, depending on design, I'm not convinced that it is PriceLevels responsibility to decide what the default values are and maybe it should get it as a dependency in any case - See SOLID and Dependency Injection. Then you'd have only 1 constructor:

class PriceLevels
{
    public int[] priceLevels { get; set; }

    public PriceLevels(int[] newPriceLevels)
    {
       priceLevels = newPriceLevels;
    }
}

Answer 2

You can overload your constructor.

class PriceLevels
{
    public int[] priceLevels { get; private set; }
    private readonly int[] defaultPriceLevels = { 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6 };

    public PriceLevels()
    {
        priceLevels = defaultPriceLevels;
    }

    public PriceLevels(int[] newPriceLevels)
    {
       priceLevels = newPriceLevels;
    }
}