C# - Object Initializer Syntax

C# 3.0 (.NET 3.5) introduced Object Initializer Syntax, a new way to initialize an object of a class or collection. Object initializers allow you to assign values to the fields or properties at the time of creating an object without invoking a constructor.

Example: Object Initializer Syntax

public class Student
{
    public int StudentID { get; set; }
    public string StudentName { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
    public string Address { get; set; }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Student std = new Student() { StudentID = 1, 
                                      StudentName = "Bill", 
                                      Age = 20, 
                                      Address = "New York"   
                                    };
    }
}

Try it

In the above example, Student class is defined without any constructors. In the Main() method, we have created Student object and assigned values to all or some properties in the curly bracket at the same time. This is called object initializer syntax.

The compiler compiles the above initializer into something like the following.

Example: Object Initializer Syntax at Compile time

Student __student = new Student();
__student.StudentID = 1;
__student.StudentName = "Bill";
__student.Age = 20;
__student.StandardID = 10;
__student.Address = "Test";

Student std = __student;

Collection Initializer Syntax

Collection can be initialized the same way as class objects using collection initializer syntax.

Example: Object initializer Syntax

var student1 = new Student() { StudentID = 1, StudentName = "John" };
var student2 = new Student() { StudentID = 2, StudentName = "Steve" };
var student3 = new Student() { StudentID = 3, StudentName = "Bill" } ;
var student4 = new Student() { StudentID = 3, StudentName = "Bill" };
var student5 = new Student() { StudentID = 5, StudentName = "Ron" };

IList<Student> studentList = new List<Student>() { 
                                                    student1, 
                                                    student2, 
                                                    student3, 
                                                    student4, 
                                                    student5 
                                                };

Try it

You can also initialize collections and objects at the same time.

Example: Collection initializer Syntax

IList<Student> studentList = new List<Student>() { 
                    new Student() { StudentID = 1, StudentName = "John"} ,
                    new Student() { StudentID = 2, StudentName = "Steve"} ,
                    new Student() { StudentID = 3, StudentName = "Bill"} ,
                    new Student() { StudentID = 3, StudentName = "Bill"} ,
                    new Student() { StudentID = 4, StudentName = "Ram" } ,
                    new Student() { StudentID = 5, StudentName = "Ron" } 
                };

Try it

You can also specify null as an element:

Example: Collection initializer Syntax

IList<Student> studentList = new List<Student>() { 
                                    new Student() { StudentID = 1, StudentName = "John"} ,
                                    null
                                };

Advantages of Initializers

Initializer syntax makes a code more readable, easy to add elements into the collection.
Useful in multi-threading.