Specifying just a setter on a set/getter

Question

I'm using getters and setters for creating an instance of a class.

Is it possible to adjust the value being set without having to have a private variable, and do it on the type directly?

For example, if my class is:

public class Cat()
{
public String Age{get; set; }
}

and I want to instantiate it doing:

new Cat({Age: "3"});

Now, if I have a function called ConvertToHumanYears that I want to call before it is being stored, I would imagine something like this is the right way:

public class Cat()
{
public String Age{get; set{ value = ConvertToHumanYears(value); }
}

But the above (and many dirivatives of it) seem to return errors. Is it possible to do something similar without having to have an additional private variable I set and get?

Answer 1

You cannot use auto property for getter and have a definition for setter.

it's either

public class Cat()
{
   public String Age{get; set; }
}

or

public class Cat()
{
  private String _age;

    public String Age{
      get{
          return _age;
      }
      set{
           _age = ConvertToHumanYears(value); 
      }
    }
  }

}