C# - Ultimate Guide - Beginner to Advanced | Master class
Section 12 - Namespaces
Namespaces
Namespaces is a collection of classes and "other types such as interfaces, structures, delegate types,
enumerations).
Eg:
In a project for an organization:
namespace FrontOffice
namespace Finance
namespace HR
namespace Inventory
Syntax:
namespace NamespaceName
Classes
Interfaces
Structures
Delegate Types
Enumerations
}
Namespaces goal is to group-up classes and other types that are related to a particular project-
module, into an unit.
Syntax to access a type that is present inside the namespace: NamespaceName.TypeName
Nested Namespaces
The namespace which is declared inside another namespace is called as "Nested namespace" or
“Inner Namespace".
Use nested namespaces, in order to divide the classes of a larger namespace, into smaller groups.
Syntax to access a type in the inner namespace: OuterNamespace.InnerNamespace.TypeName
Syntax to create inner namespace:
namespace OuterNamespace
Classes
Interfaces
Structures
Delegate Types
Enumerations
namespace InnerNamespace
Classes
Interfaces
Structures
Delegate Types
Enumerations
}
Importing Namespaces ('using' Directive)
The "using" is a directive statement (top-level statement) that should be placed at the top of the file,
which specifies the namespace, from which you want to import all the classes and other types.
Syntax: using Namespacename;
When you import a namespace, you can directly access all of its classes and other types (but not
inner namespaces).
The "using directives" are written independently for every file.
"One using directive" can import "one namespace" only.
'using' Alias Name
The "using alias" directive allows you to create "alias name" for the namespace.
Syntax:
using AliasName = Namespacename;
Use "using alias" directive, if you want to access long namespaces with shortcut name.
It is much useful to access specific namespace, when there is namespace name ambiguity (two
classes with same name in two different namespaces and both namespaces are imported in the
same file).
'using' static
The "using static" directive allows you import a static class directly from a namespace; so that you
can directly access any of its methods anywhere in the current file.
Syntax:
using static Namespacename.StaticClassName;
Use the "using static" directive to access methods of static class easily, without repeating the class
name each time.
