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Using this in parameters of static methods in static class?

Anonymous User 1577 27-Jan-2014

Why should I use 'this' in static functions of static classes to objects in parameter? I mean is the real difference between using those 2 methods?

public static class Extensions
{
    public static string AsJson(this object obj)
    public static string AsJson2(object obj)
}

Updated on 28-Jan-2014

I am a content writter !

Can you answer this question?

Answer

28-Jan-2014

Hi Ankit,

The first one is an extension method, whereas the second one is just a static method.

The difference is in how you can call them:

object myObj = new object();
var result = myObj.AsJson();
var result2 = Extensions.AsJson2(myobj);

Note that you can also use the first one as a simple static method:

var result3 = Extensions.AsJson(myObj);

Essentially, it's just syntactical sugar. Upon compilation, the first statement will be transformed into the last one.