Field masks field in super class¶
ID: cs/field-masks-base-field
Kind: problem
Security severity:
Severity: warning
Precision: high
Tags:
- reliability
- readability
- naming
Query suites:
- csharp-security-and-quality.qls
Click to see the query in the CodeQL repository
This rule identifies a field that hides a field in a superclass because the field has the same name and, additionally, there are no methods in the subclass that refer to the field in the superclass directly using super.field. Redefining the field in the subclass is a common mistake.
Recommendation¶
Check that the field should indeed be redefined in the subclass. If it should be redefined then consider changing its name to be more clear about what the field does.
Example¶
In this example the “name” property in Employee masks the “name” property in Person. This was probably not what was intended.
class Person
{
private string name;
public Person() { }
public Person(string name)
{
this.name = name;
}
}
class Employee : Person
{
private string name; // BAD
private string department;
public Employee(string name, string department)
{
this.name = name;
this.department = department;
}
}
References¶
MSDN, C# Programming Guide, Hiding through inheritance.