Base class constructor running without being specified to

Question

I have a Deck class that instantiates your standard 52-card deck. I'm making a Durak card game, which allows you to use different sized decks. So I'm inheriting Deck, with a new DurakDeck class.

I have the following DurakDeck constructor (I also have a default constructor, that more or less does something similar). I'm running into an issue, where it looks like when I instantiate a DurakDeck, it is also calling the Deck constructor, because my DurakDeck object ends up containing however many cards it was told to instantiate in it's constructor, plus an extra 52-cards (coming from Deck).

Does the parent class constructor call automatically? I always assumed it only called if you had the : base() specified...?

Not really sure where I am going wrong...

public DurakDeck(byte deckSize)
        {
            const Rank SMALL_DECK_START = Rank.Ten;
            const Rank NORMAL_DECK_START = Rank.Six;
            const Rank LARGE_DECK_START = Rank.Deuce;

            this.deckSize = (deckSize - 1);
            Rank startingValue = Rank.Six;

            // Check what deckSize is equal to, and start building the deck at the required card rank.
            if (deckSize == SMALL_SIZE) { startingValue = SMALL_DECK_START; }
            else if (deckSize == NORMAL_SIZE) { startingValue = NORMAL_DECK_START; }
            else if (deckSize == LARGE_SIZE) { startingValue = LARGE_DECK_START; }
            else { startingValue = NORMAL_DECK_START; }

            // Ace is 1 in enum, and Durak deck can initialize at different sizes,
            //  so we add the aces of each 4 suits first.
            for (int suitVal = 0; suitVal < 4; suitVal++)
            {
                cards.Add(new Card((Suit)suitVal, Rank.Ace));
            }

            // Loop through every suit
            for (int suitVal = 0; suitVal < 4; suitVal++)
            {
                // Loop through every rank starting at the starting value determined from the if logic up above.
                for (Rank rankVal = startingValue; rankVal <= Rank.King; rankVal++)
                {
                    // Add card to deck
                    cards.Add(new Card((Suit)suitVal, rankVal));
                } 
            }
        }

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 27 '15 at 14:51

0

If your base class has a default constructor it will always be called, unless you specify an alternative one to call.

answered Mar 27 '15 at 14:51

Sean

60,939
11
97
136

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:56

0

Base constructors are called automatically. Using the : Base () gives you the ability to specify inputs into the base constructor.

see for more info Will the base class constructor be automatically called?

edited May 23 '17 at 11:56

Community

1
1

answered Mar 27 '15 at 14:54

XenoPuTtSs

1,254
1
11
31

So would it be ideal for me to add an empty constructor into the Deck class? – Mar 27 '15 at 14:58
I'm not sure how you envision what Deck is responsible for, but you could create a constructor Deck(int deckSize) for Deck and use DurakDeck(byte size):base(size-1) – XenoPuTtSs Mar 27 '15 at 15:02

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 27 '15 at 15:00

    class ParentClass
    {
        public ParentClass(){
            Console.WriteLine("parent created");
        }
    }
    class ChildClass : ParentClass
    {
        public ChildClass()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("child created");
        }
    }

ChildClass cc = new ChildClass(); prints "parent created", and then prints "child created".

Base class constructor running without being specified to

3 Answers3