C# Calling ToString in class by ToString in other class

Question

I have 2 classes. My question is, how can I call ToString from first class called Racer in my second class called Time.

Simplified version: class B To string (return class A ToString + something from class B)

class Racer
{
    public string name, surname;


    public void ReadingSeparatorsRacer(string line) //Rozdělení separatorem
    {

        char[] separators = new char[] { ';' };
        string[] field = line.Split(separators, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);

        surname = field[0]; //Příjmení
        name = field[1]; //Jméno
    }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        return surname + name;
    }           
}

class Time
{
    DateTime startTime, finishTime, result;

    public void ReadingSeparatorsTime(string line)
    {
        char[] separators = new char[] { ';', ':', '.' };
        string[] field = line.Split(separators, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
    }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        string s = Racer.ToString

        return "" result;

    }
} 

Iam thinking about something like this:

public override ToString()
{
 return Racer.ToString + result;
}

But sadly, this does not work :(

Any ideas?

Thanks for help

Answer 1

As ToString() is not static, you can't call Racer.ToString().

You have to instanciate a Racer object an then call ToString() on it.

Answer 2

Edit: this probably nearer to what you are intending:

class Racer
{
    public string name, surname;
    public Time Time { get; set; }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        return surname + name + "(" + Time.ToString() + ")";
    }           
}

class Time
{
    DateTime startTime, finishTime, result;

    public override string ToString()
    {
        TimeSpan elapsedTime = finishTime - startTime;
        return elapsedTime.ToString();
    }
} 

Each Racer was a Time property which represents how long they took to run the race. The Racer.ToString method calls the Time.ToString method to include the race time, along with the Racer's name.

Answer 3

Generally, the easiest way to get self-maintainable ToString methods is to use a library for just exactly that. eg. from https://github.com/kbilsted/StatePrinter/blob/master/doc/AutomatingToStrings.md

class AClassWithToString
{
  string B = "hello";
  int[] C = {5,4,3,2,1};

  // Nice stuff ahead!
  static readonly Stateprinter printer = new Stateprinter();

  public override string ToString()
  {
    return printer.PrintObject(this);
  }
}

notice how the ToString will automatically update itself when you introduce new fields into the class.