The abstract keyword enables you to create classes and class members that are incomplete and must

be implemented in a derived class. The sealed keyword enables you to prevent the inheritance of a class or certain class members that were previously marked virtual.

Abstract Classes and Class Members

Classes can be declared as abstract by putting the keyword example:

abstract before the class definition. For

public abstract class A { // Class members here. }

An abstract class cannot be instantiated. The purpose of an abstract class is to provide a common definition of a base class that multiple derived classes can share. For example, a class library may define an abstract class that is used as a parameter to many of its functions, and require programmers using that library to provide their own implementation of the class by creating a derived class. Abstract classes may also define abstract methods. This is accomplished by adding the keyword abstract before the return type of the method. For example:

public abstract class A { public abstract void DoWork(int i); }

Abstract methods have no implementation, so the method definition is followed by a semicolon instead of a normal method block. Derived classes of the abstract class must implement all abstract methods. When an abstract class inherits a virtual method from a base class, the abstract class can override the virtual method with an abstract method. For example:

// compile with: /target:library public class D { public virtual void DoWork(int i) { // Original implementation. } }

public abstract class E : D { public abstract override void DoWork(int i); } public class F : E { public override void DoWork(int i) { // New implementation. } }

If a virtual method is declared abstract, it is still virtual to any class inheriting from the abstract class. A class inheriting an abstract method cannot access the original implementation of the method in the previous example, DoWork on class F cannot call DoWork on class D. In this way, an abstract class can force derived classes to provide new method implementations for virtual methods.

Sealed Classes and Class Members

Classes can be declared as sealed by putting the keyword sealed before the class definition. For example:

public sealed class D { // Class members here. }

A sealed class cannot be used as a base class. For this reason, it cannot also be an abstract class. Sealed classes prevent derivation. Because they can never be used as a base class, some run-time optimizations can make calling sealed class members slightly faster. A class member, method, field, property, or event, on a derived class that is overriding a virtual member of the base class can declare that member as sealed. This negates the virtual aspect of the member for any further derived class. This is accomplished by putting the sealed keyword before the override keyword in the class member declaration. For example: public class D : C { public sealed override void DoWork() { } }

interface (C# Reference)

the signatures of methods, delegates or events. The implementation of the methods is done in the class that implements the interface, as shown in the following example: Copy interface ISampleInterface { void SampleMethod(); } class ImplementationClass : ISampleInterface { // Explicit interface member implementation: void ISampleInterface.SampleMethod() { // Method implementation. } static void Main() { // Declare an interface instance. ISampleInterface obj = new ImplementationClass(); // Call the member. obj.SampleMethod(); } }

Remarks
An interface can be a member of a namespace or a class and can contain signatures of the following members: Methods Properties Indexers Events

An interface can inherit from one or more base interfaces. When a base type list contains a base class and interfaces, the base class must come first in the list. A class that implements an interface can explicitly implement members of that interface. An explicitly implemented member cannot be accessed through a class instance, but only through an instance of the interface, for example:

Example
The following example demonstrates interface implementation. In this example, the interface IPoint contains the property declaration, which is responsible for setting and getting the values of the fields. The class Point contains the property implementation. // keyword_interface_2.cs // Interface implementation using System; interface IPoint { // Property signatures: int x { get; set; } int y { get; set; } } class Point : IPoint { // Fields: private int _x; private int _y; // Constructor: public Point(int x, int y) { _x = x; _y = y; } // Property implementation: public int x { get { return _x; } set { _x = value; } }

public int y { get { return _y; } set { _y = value; } } } class MainClass { static void PrintPoint(IPoint p) { Console.WriteLine("x={0}, y={1}", p.x, p.y); } static void Main() { Point p = new Point(2, 3); Console.Write("My Point: "); PrintPoint(p); } } Output My Point: x=2, y=3

Recommendations for Abstract Classes vs. Interfaces

Visual Studio .NET 2003 The choice of whether to design your functionality as an interface or an abstract class (a MustInherit class in Visual Basic) can sometimes be a difficult one. An abstract class is a class that cannot be instantiated, but must be inherited from. An abstract class may be fully implemented, but is more usually partially implemented or not implemented at all, thereby encapsulating common functionality for inherited classes. For details, see Abstract Classes. An interface, by contrast, is a totally abstract set of members that can be thought of as defining a contract for conduct. The implementation of an interface is left completely to the developer. Both interfaces and abstract classes are useful for component interaction. If a method requires an interface as an argument, then any object that implements that interface can be used in the argument. For example: Copy

' Visual Basic Public Sub Spin (ByVal widget As IWidget) End Sub // C# public void Spin (IWidget widget) {} This method could accept any object that implemented IWidget as the widget argument, even though the implementations of IWidget might be quite different. Abstract classes also allow for this kind of polymorphism, but with a few caveats: Classes may inherit from only one base class, so if you want to use abstract classes to provide polymorphism to a group of classes, they must all inherit from that class. Abstract classes may also provide members that have already been implemented. Therefore, you can ensure a certain amount of identical functionality with an abstract class, but cannot with an interface.

Here are some recommendations to help you to decide whether to use an interface or an abstract class to provide polymorphism for your components. If you anticipate creating multiple versions of your component, create an abstract class. Abstract classes provide a simple and easy way to version your components. By updating the base class, all inheriting classes are automatically updated with the change. Interfaces, on the other hand, cannot be changed once created. If a new version of an interface is required, you must create a whole new interface. If the functionality you are creating will be useful across a wide range of disparate objects, use an interface. Abstract classes should be used primarily for objects that are closely related, whereas interfaces are best suited for providing common functionality to unrelated classes. If you are designing small, concise bits of functionality, use interfaces. If you are designing large functional units, use an abstract class. If you want to provide common, implemented functionality among all implementations of your component, use an abstract class. Abstract classes allow you to partially implement your class, whereas interfaces contain no implementation for any members.

Delegates (C# Programming Guide)

Visual Studio 2005 Other Versions

A delegate is a type that references a method. Once a delegate is assigned a method, it behaves exactly like that method. The delegate method can be used like any other method, with parameters and a return value, as in this example:

VB C# C++ F# JScript Copy public delegate int PerformCalculation(int x, int y);

Any method that matches the delegate's signature, which consists of the return type and parameters, can be assigned to the delegate. This makes is possible to programmatically change method calls, and also plug new code into existing classes. As long as you know the delegate's signature, you can assign your own delegated method. This ability to refer to a method as a parameter makes delegates ideal for defining callback methods. For example, a sort algorithm could be passed a reference to the method that compares two objects. Separating the comparison code allows the algorithm to be written in a more general way.

Delegates Overview
Delegates have the following properties: Delegates are similar to C++ function pointers, but are type safe. Delegates allow methods to be passed as parameters. Delegates can be used to define callback methods. Delegates can be chained together; for example, multiple methods can be called on a single event. Methods don't need to match the delegate signature exactly. For more information, see Covariance and Contravariance C# version 2.0 introduces the concept of Anonymous Methods, which permit code blocks to be passed as parameters in place of a separately defined method.

Using Delegates (C# Programming Guide)

A delegate is a type that safely encapsulates a method, similar to a function pointer in C and C++. Unlike C function pointers, delegates are object-oriented, type safe, and secure. The type of a delegate is defined by the name of the delegate. The following example declares a delegate named Del that can encapsulate a method that takes a string as an argument and returns void:

public delegate void Del(string message);

A delegate object is normally constructed by providing the name of the method the delegate will wrap, or with ananonymous Method. Once a delegate is instantiated, a method call made to the delegate will be passed by the delegate to that method. The parameters passed to the delegate by the caller are passed to the method, and the return value, if any, from the method is returned to the caller by the delegate. This is known as invoking the delegate. An instantiated delegate can be invoked as if it were the wrapped method itself. For example: // Create a method for a delegate. public static void DelegateMethod(string message) { System.Console.WriteLine(message); } // Instantiate the delegate. Del handler = DelegateMethod; // Call the delegate. handler("Hello World");

Delegate types are derived from the Delegate class in the .NET Framework. Delegate types are sealed they cannot be derived from and it is not possible to derive custom classes from Delegate. Because the instantiated delegate is an object, it can be passed as a parameter, or assigned to a property. This allows a method to accept a delegate as a parameter, and call the delegate at some later time. This is known as an asynchronous callback, and is a common method of notifying a caller when a long process has completed. When a delegate is used in this fashion, the code using the delegate does not need any knowledge of the implementation of the method being used. The functionality is similar to the encapsulation interfaces provide. For more information, see When to Use Delegates Instead of Interfaces. Another common use of callbacks is defining a custom comparison method and passing that delegate to a sort method. It allows the caller's code to become part of the sort algorithm. The following example method uses the Deltype as a parameter: public void MethodWithCallback(int param1, int param2, Del callback) { callback("The number is: " + (param1 + param2).ToString()); }

You can then pass the delegate created above to that method: MethodWithCallback(1, 2, handler);

and receive the following output to the console: The number is: 3

Using the delegate as an abstraction, MethodWithCallback does not need to call the console directly it does not have to be designed with a console in mind. What MethodWithCallback does is simply prepare a string and pass the string to another method. This is especially powerful since a delegated method can use any number of parameters. When a delegate is constructed to wrap an instance method, the delegate references both the instance and the method. A delegate has no knowledge of the instance type aside from the method it wraps, so a delegate can refer to any type of object as long as there is a method on that object that matches the delegate signature. When a delegate is constructed to wrap a static method, it only references the method. Consider the following declarations: public class MethodClass { public void Method1(string message) { } public void Method2(string message) { } }

Along with the static DelegateMethod shown previously, we now have three methods that can be wrapped by a Delinstance. A delegate can call more than one method when invoked. This is referred to as multicasting. To add an extra method to the delegate's list of methodsthe invocation listsimply requires adding two delegates using the addition or addition assignment operators ('+' or '+='). For example: MethodClass obj = new MethodClass(); Del d1 = obj.Method1; Del d2 = obj.Method2; Del d3 = DelegateMethod; //Both types of assignment are valid. Del allMethodsDelegate = d1 + d2; allMethodsDelegate += d3;

At this point allMethodsDelegate contains three methods in its invocation listMethod1, Method2, andDelegateMethod. The original three delegates, d1, d2, and d3, remain unchanged. When allMethodsDelegate is invoked, all three methods are called in order. If the delegate uses reference parameters, the reference is passed sequentially to each of the three methods in turn, and any changes by one method are visible to the next method. When any of the methods throws an exception that is not caught within the method, that exception is passed to the caller of the delegate and no subsequent methods in the invocation list are called. If the delegate has a return value and/or out parameters, it returns the return value and parameters of the last method invoked. To remove a method from the invocation list, use the decrement or decrement assignment operator ('-' or '-='). For example: //remove Method1 allMethodsDelegate -= d1; // copy AllMethodsDelegate while removing d2 Del oneMethodDelegate = allMethodsDelegate - d2;

Because delegate types are derived from System.Delegate, the methods and properties defined by that class can be called on the delegate. For example, to find the number of methods in a delegate's invocation list, you may write: int invocationCount = d1.GetInvocationList().GetLength(0);

Delegates with more than one method in their invocation list derive from MulticastDelegate, which is a subclass ofSystem.Delegate. The above code works in either case because both classes support GetInvocationList. Multicast delegates are used extensively in event handling. Event source objects send event notifications to recipient objects that have registered to receive that event. To register for an event, the recipient creates a method designed to handle the event, then creates a delegate for that method and passes the delegate to the event source. The source calls the delegate when the event occurs. The delegate then calls the event handling method on the recipient, delivering the event data. The delegate type for a given event is defined by the event source. For more, see Events (C# Programming Guide). Comparing delegates of two different types assigned at compile-time will result in a compilation error. If the delegate instances are statically of the type System.Delegate, then the comparison is allowed, but will return false at run time. For example: delegate void Delegate1(); delegate void Delegate2(); static void method(Delegate1 d, Delegate2 e, System.Delegate f) { // Compile-time error. //Console.WriteLine(d == e); // OK at compile-time. False if the run-time type of f //is not the same as that of d. System.Console.WriteLine(d == f); }