Ndtyjky

I want to instantiate an object using initialization list and call a method in the same command.

string importantData = SearchOptions() {id = "10", className = "Fluffy"}.justAFunction();

The class looks like this:

class SearchOptions : PageBase

{

    public SearchOptions()

    {

        id = string.Empty;

        className = string.Empty;

        text = string.Empty;

        partialText = string.Empty;

        XPath = string.Empty;

        cssModifier = string.Empty;

    }



    string void justAFunction()

    {

        Console.WriteLine(id);

        Console.WriteLine(className);

        return "ImportantReturn";

    }

}

I want to keep the flexibility of defining the necessary fields using initialization list and leave the others empty.

The class object is not needed later. Only the return argument of the method would be needed.

You almost have it. You just need to add the new keyword to create a new object before you can call a method on it:

string importantData = new SearchOptions {id = "10", className = "Fluffy"}.justAFunction();

Since you don't set any reference to the newly created object, it goes out of scope as soon as this line executes and will be cleaned up by the garbage collection engine.

Note that there are some other issues with your code that need to be fixed in order to make this work:

1. 
   justAFunction() should be publicly accessible (in your example, the access modifier is not specified, and the default is private, so it would not work).


2. You cannot specify two return types (you have it declared as: string void justAFunction. You should remove the void since you're returning a string).

And a few other suggestions:

1. This assumes that the base class contains the properties you're setting (or they exist in this class and you just left them out for brevity)


2. The properties you set when instantiating the object must be publicly accessible (or at least accessible from wherever you're creating it - usually they are public).


3. Public properties and methods should be PascalCase (not camelCase).

With these suggestions in mind, your classes would look something like:

class PageBase

{

    public string Id { get; set; }

    public string ClassName { get; set; }

    public string Text { get; set; }

    public string PartialText { get; set; }

    public string XPath { get; set; }

    public string CssModifier { get; set; }

}



class SearchOptions : PageBase

{

    public SearchOptions()

    {

        Id = string.Empty;

        ClassName = string.Empty;

        Text = string.Empty;

        PartialText = string.Empty;

        XPath = string.Empty;

        CssModifier = string.Empty;

    }



    public string JustAFunction()

    {

        Console.WriteLine(Id);

        Console.WriteLine(ClassName);

        return "ImportantReturn";

    }

}

And then the call to get the important data looks like:

string importantData = new SearchOptions {Id = "10", ClassName = "Fluffy"}.JustAFunction();

Replace "string void justAFunction()" => "public string justAFunction()".