Properly using a custom variable type (struct) in class

Question

I'm trying to think through a new class I'm trying to implement, and have an idea that I'm not sure is good or bad. I want to create a class that holds device settings (ex. inch vs. metric) as well as codes that correspond to the settings. I think it would be nice to have code that looks like this:

Device myDevice = new Device();
myDevice.units = Device.Inches;
myDevice.MoveTo(1,2,3, Device.Rapid);

and the Device class file would be:

class Device
{
    public static DeviceUnit Inches = DeviceUnit("G21");
    public static DeviceUnit Metric = DeviceUnit("G20");

    public static DeviceMovement Rapid = DeviceMovement("G00");
    public static DeviceMovement Feed = DeviceMovement("G01");

    public DeviceUnit units;
    public Device()
    {
        // Default to metric system
        units = Device.Metric;
    }
    public Device(DeviceUnit customUnit)
    {
        units = customUnit;
    }

    public MoveTo(float x, float y, float z, DeviceMovement movement)
    {
        string command = string.Format($"{units.gcode} {movement.gcode} ");
        command += string.Format($"X{x} Y{y} Z{z}\r\n");
        Debug.Write(command);
    }
}

Device Unit struct:

public struct DeviceUnit
{
    public string gcode;
    public DeviceUnit(string code)
    {
        gcode = code;
    }
}

DeviceMovement struct:

public struct DeviceMovement 
{
    public string gcode;
    public DeviceUnit(string code)
    {
        gcode = code;
    }
}

My worry is I might end up being 'overkill' on the amount of structs I use. Already I'm thinking I should make another to store Incremental (G90) vs Absolute (G91) positioning. I'd like to make this flexible so that in the future I can load the gcode strings from an XML configuration file so that I can quickly create new XML files for new machine configurations.

Is using multiple structs too overkill for this task?
Should I combine the structs together somehow?

Answer 1

The struct have a meaning if it has multi properties that represent complex object.

I find that your struct DeviceUnit, DeviceMovement are only one property of type string, so why struct ?

let DeviceUnit, DeviceMovement string property. but wait :)

Q: Is using multiple structs too overkill for this task?

A: No, Struct is not overkill if it is used to describe an object (which may be complex device property) with many properties.

example:

  public struct Dimension
 {
   //avoid using constructor. You can initialize with object initializer
  public int x;
  public int y;
  public int z;  
}

for example: All devices of windows are stored in WMI classes like The Win32_Printer WMI which has more than 40 property, and most of properties are a complex object.

q: Should I combine the structs together somehow?

A: simply you define a class named Device which have properties and method. If one of the properties is a complex object, it should be of type struct or class. You build Object model for the device , so select the type of the properties carefully. but in your code , really your are not in need to the struct at all , use simple properties like:

 public static string Inches {get;set;} = "G21"; // in c#6 you can initialize properties

My Question: Why Static properties?

My Question: Why you initialize properties with default values.

A: You can create xml file for every device and load it during object instantiation, and this give you more capability:

Use one class (or more specialized classes) to represent your device You can add the following method to your device class:

 public LoadDevice(string xmlFilename)
  {
     // read xml file , e.g Linq to xml 
     // set properties
  }

Here your ceiling is the sky :)

BTW, you should use new keyword if the struct has constructor. so it should:

public static DeviceUnit Inches = new  DeviceUnit("G21");  //:)