How to override ToString() in [] array?

Question

Say, if I need to override ToString method in a custom List , I'd do this:

public class WebUILanguage2 : List<WebUILanguage>
{
    public override string ToString()
    {
        return "Overridden message";
    }
}

but what if I want to override this?

public class WebUILanguage2 : WebUILanguage[]

Answer 1

You can't. You can't derive from array types.

I'd generally advise against overriding ToString in List<T> , too - usually it's better to use composition than inheritance for things like this, in my experience.

Answer 2

As was said, you cant do that. But as a workaround, you can simply write a new method:

using System;
static class Program {
   static string Str(this string[] a) => String.Join(',', a);
   static void Main() {
      string[] a = {"May", "June"};
      Console.WriteLine(a.Str());
   }
}

Or function:

using System;
class Program {
   static string Str(string[] a) => String.Join(',', a);
   static void Main() {
      string[] a = {"May", "June"};
      Console.WriteLine(Str(a));
   }
}

Or a generic function:

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System;
class Program {
   static string Str(IEnumerable<string> a) => String.Join(',', a);
   static void Main() {
      string[] a = {"May", "June"};
      Console.WriteLine(Str(a));
   }
}