Method Within A Method

Question

I am creating a C# library with some reusable code and was trying to create a method inside a method. I have a method like this:

public static void Method1() {    // Code } 

What I would like to do is this:

public static void Method1() {    public static void Method2()    {    }    public static void Method3()    {    } } 

Then I could choose either Method1.Method2 or Method1.Method3. Obviously the compiler isn't happy about this, any help is much appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

If by nested method, you mean a method that is only callable within that method (like in Delphi) you could use delegates.

public static void Method1() {    var method2 = new Action(() => { /* action body */ } );    var method3 = new Action(() => { /* action body */ } );     //call them like normal methods    method2();    method3();     //if you want an argument    var actionWithArgument = new Action<int>(i => { Console.WriteLine(i); });    actionWithArgument(5);     //if you want to return something    var function = new Func<int, int>(i => { return i++; });    int test = function(6); } 

Answer 2

This answer was written before C# 7 came out. With C# 7 you can write local methods.

No, you can't do that. You could create a nested class:

public class ContainingClass {     public static class NestedClass     {         public static void Method2()         {         }           public static void Method3()         {         }     } } 

You'd then call:

ContainingClass.NestedClass.Method2(); 

or

ContainingClass.NestedClass.Method3(); 

I wouldn't recommend this though. Usually it's a bad idea to have public nested types.

Can you tell us more about what you're trying to achieve? There may well be a better approach.