what is the c# equivalent of static {...} in Java?

Question

In Java I can write:

public class Foo {      public static Foo DEFAULT_FOO;      static {         DEFAULT_FOO = new Foo();         // initialize          DEFAULT_FOO.init();     }      public Foo() {     }      void init() {         // initialize     } } 

How can I get the same functionailty in C# (where static members are initialized before use)? And, if this is a bad thing to try to do, what is a better approach?

Answer 1

you use a static constructor, like this:

public class Foo {   static Foo()   {      // inits   } } 

Here's more info.

Bottom line: it's a paramaterless constructor with the static keyword attached to it. Works just like the static block in Java.

Edit: One more thing to mention. If you just want to construct something statically, you can statically initialize a variable without the need for the static constructor. For example:

public class Foo {   public static Bar StaticBar = new Bar(); } 

Keep in mind that you'll need a static constructor if you want to call any methods on Bar during static initialization, so your example that calls Foo.Init() still needs a static constructor. I'm just sayin' you're not limited, is all. :)