C# restricting use of a class

Question

The below code does what I would like it to do. The code in the Main method looks and behaves exactly as desired. However, it would be preferable if the class UserMenu, Home and DropdownMenu2 could only be used by the HeaderNavigationMenu to protect other developers from trying to used them outside of the HeaderNavigationMenu class. Additionally most articles frown upon making everything public.

Question : Is the design patter being used below appropriate or is there something better and more acceptable to use in this scenario?

---

Edit: The reason for this design.

1. I wanted the end user of HeaderNavigationMenu to just be able to use the dot notation to get a list of available options. This Architecture accomplishes this goal (ex: navigationMenu.DropdownMenu2.SelectOption3())
2. Wanted anyone else who eventually might need to edit the code to understand that the classes UserMenu, Home and DropDownMenu2 where very specifically designed to be implemented by HeaderNavigationMenu class.

---

public class HeaderNavigationMenu
{
    public HeaderNavigationMenu()
    {
        UsersMenu = new UsersMenu();
        Home = new Home();
        DropdownMenu2 = new DropdownMenu2();
    }

    public UsersMenu UsersMenu { get; set; }
    public Home Home { get; set; }
    public DropdownMenu2 DropdownMenu2 { get; set; }
}

public class UsersMenu
{
  ...
}

public class Home
{
  ...
}

public class DropdownMenu2
{
  public void SelectOption3()
  {
    ...
  }
  ...
}

static void Main(string[] args)
{
  HeaderNavigationMenu navigationMenu = new HeaderNavigationMenu();
  navigationMenu.DropdownMenu2.SelectOption3();

  // The following code is an example of undesired capability; 
  // prefer if Home class could only be 
  // used by HeaderNavigationMenu class
  Home home = new Home();
}

Answer 1

Restrict access to the class constructors. If they are declared as "internal" then the classes may only be created by your code.

Answer 2

If you're looking to protect against the instantiation of UsersMenu , DropdownMenu2 , and Home from outside HeaderNavigationMenu but still within the same project as HeaderNavigationMenu then there is a neat trick that can achieve this behavior. You can use public nested classes with private constructors which statically initialize their own factory methods. The basic template for this would be:

public class Outer{
  private static Func<Inner> _innerFactory;
  public Inner ExposedInner {get; private set;}

  public Outer(){
    // Force the static initializer to run.
    System.Runtime.CompilerServices.RuntimeHelpers.RunClassConstructor(typeof(Inner).TypeHandle);

    // Call the newly created factory method instead of a regular constructor.
    ExposedInner = _innerFactory();
  }

  public class Inner {
    static Inner(){
      // Initialize Outer's static factory method.
      _innerFactory = () => new Inner();
    }

    // Inner cannot be instantiated (without reflection) because its constructor is private.
    private Inner(){}

    // This method is now exposed for anyone to use.
    public void DoStuff(){ Console.WriteLine("Did stuff"); }
  }
}

Here's this concept implemented in your example:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        HeaderNavigationMenu navigationMenu = new HeaderNavigationMenu();
        navigationMenu.DropdownMenu2.SelectOption3();

        // This line will no longer work because the constructors
        // for the inner classes are private.
        HeaderNavigationMenu.HomeImpl home = new HeaderNavigationMenu.HomeImpl();

        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}

public class HeaderNavigationMenu
{
    //Private factory methods that are statically initialized
    private static Func<UsersMenuImpl> _createUsers;
    private static Func<DropdownMenu2Impl> _createDropdown;
    private static Func<HomeImpl> _createHome;

    public HeaderNavigationMenu()
    {
        //Force the static constructors to run
        System.Runtime.CompilerServices.RuntimeHelpers.RunClassConstructor(typeof(UsersMenuImpl).TypeHandle);
        System.Runtime.CompilerServices.RuntimeHelpers.RunClassConstructor(typeof(HomeImpl).TypeHandle);
        System.Runtime.CompilerServices.RuntimeHelpers.RunClassConstructor(typeof(DropdownMenu2Impl).TypeHandle);

        UsersMenu = _createUsers();
        Home = _createHome();
        DropdownMenu2 = _createDropdown();
    }

    public UsersMenuImpl UsersMenu { get; set; }
    public HomeImpl Home { get; set; }
    public DropdownMenu2Impl DropdownMenu2 { get; set; }

    public class UsersMenuImpl
    {
        //Static constructor to make the class factory method
        static UsersMenuImpl()
        {
            _createUsers = () => new UsersMenuImpl();
        }

        private UsersMenuImpl() { }
    }

    public class HomeImpl
    {
        //Static constructor to make the class factory method
        static HomeImpl()
        {
            _createHome = () => new HomeImpl();
        }

        private HomeImpl() { }
    }

    public class DropdownMenu2Impl
    {
        //Static constructor to make the class factory method
        static DropdownMenu2Impl()
        {
            _createDropdown = () => new DropdownMenu2Impl();
        }

        private DropdownMenu2Impl() { }

        public void SelectOption3()
        {
        }
    }
}

With this, you will still be able to use all the public properties of the inner classes however no one will be able to instantiate the inner classes from outside HeaderNavigationMenu and only HeaderNavigationMenu has access to the factory methods.

Answer 3

I don't really understand what your use case is and I've never coded like this but one way of only exposing the required behaviour of HeaderNavigationMenu would be to make the classes internal and the variables private and then expose only the SelectOption3() method, as below.

If you uncomment the line

//Home home = new Home();

you will get a compiler error.

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        HeaderNavigationMenu navigationMenu = new HeaderNavigationMenu();
        navigationMenu.DropdownMenu2SelectOption3();

        // The following code is an example of undesired capability; 
        // prefer if Home class could only be 
        // used by HeaderNavigationMenu class
        //Home home = new Home();
    }
}
public class HeaderNavigationMenu
{
    UsersMenu usersMenu;
    Home home;
    DropdownMenu2 dropdownMenu2;

    public HeaderNavigationMenu()
    {
        usersMenu = new UsersMenu();
        home = new Home();
        dropdownMenu2 = new DropdownMenu2();
    }

    public void DropdownMenu2SelectOption3()
    {
        dropdownMenu2.SelectOption3();
    }

    class UsersMenu
    {
    }

    class Home
    {
    }

    class DropdownMenu2
    {
        public void SelectOption3()
        {
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

You could make UsersMenu , Home , and DropdownMenu2 public abstract classes. Then have private classes nested inside of HeaderNavigationMenu which extend the public abstract versions.

public abstract class UsersMenu
{
}

public abstract class Home
{
}

public abstract class DropdownMenu2
{
   public void SelectOption3()
   {
      // Code for SelectOption3...
   }
}

public class HeaderNavigationMenu
{
    public HeaderNavigationMenu()
    {
        UsersMenu = new UsersMenuImpl();
        Home = new HomeImpl();
        DropdownMenu2 = new DropdownMenu2Impl();
    }

    public UsersMenu UsersMenu { get; }
    public Home Home { get; }
    public DropdownMenu2 DropdownMenu2 { get; }

    private class UsersMenuImpl : UsersMenu
    {
    }

    private class HomeImpl : Home
    {
    }

    private class DropdownMenu2Impl : DropdownMenu2
    {
    }
}

Fellow developers can see and use the UsersMenu , Home , and DropdownMenu2 abstract classes, but cannot create instances of them. Only HeaderNavigationMenu can.

Of course, another developer could always create their own classes deriving from the public abstract ones, but there is only so much you can do. UsersMenu , Home , and DropdownMenu2 have to be public in order to be public properties.