Override .ToString method c#

Question

Okay, so I wrote this program out of the exercise of a C# programming book (I'm trying to learn here) and it asks for "Override the ToString() method to return all data members".

Have I done this correctly? Or have I just successfully wrote code that compiles but does nothing. What is the purpose of ToString?

I have spent about 30 minutes looking at other posts on this and havn't figured it out, So I decided to make this.

using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text;  namespace ConsoleApplication297 { class Program {     static void Main(string[] args)     {         String name = "Stormtrooper";         Employee s = new Employee(name);         Console.WriteLine("The type of hire is a {0}", s.Name);         Console.WriteLine("The identification number is {0}", s.Number);         Console.WriteLine("The date of hire is {0} ABY", s.Date);         Console.WriteLine("The standard galactic salary is...{0:C}", s.Salary);      }      class Employee     {         private string _name;         private string _number;         private int _date;         private int _salary;         public string Name         {             get             {                 return _name;             }         }          public string Number         {             get             {                 return _number;             }         }          public int Date         {             get             {                 return _date;             }         }         public int Salary         {             get             {                 return _salary;             }         }         public Employee(string n)         {             _name = n;             _number = "AA23TK421";             _date = 4;             _salary = 800;         }     }      public override string ToString()      {         return "_name + _number + _date + _salary".ToString();     } } } 

Answer 1

You are returning a string that just says the phrase _name + _number + _date + _salary.

What you likely wanted to do is build a string using those fields. If you wanted them all mushed together Concat would work, but it would be highly un-readable

public override string ToString() {     return String.Concat(_name, _number, _date, _salary); } 

However what would be better is to use Format and include labels with the values

public override string ToString() {     return String.Format("Name:{0}, Number:{1}, Date:{2}, Salary:{3}",_name, _number, _date, _salary); } 

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If you are using C# 6 or newer you can use the following cleaner format

public override string ToString() {     return $"Name:{_name}, Number:{_number}, Date:{_date}, Salary:{_salary}"; } 

Which is the exact same logic as the previous String.Format version.