Preventing instantiation of an internal class used in its outer class from a third, external class

With the following structure:

public class OuterClass {
public InnerClass foo {get; private set}
public OuterClass() {
foo = new InnerClass()
}
public class InnerClass {
sometype somevar;
public InnerClass()
}
}


How is access to the inner class constructor restricted from a third class as so:

OuterClass outerclassinstance = new OuterClass();
outerclassinstance.foo.somevar; // allowed
OuterClass.Innerclass innerclassinstance = new Outerclass.InnerClass(); // not allowed
innerclassinstance.somevar // not allowed


If I make InnerClass private I get an Inconsistent accessibility error for 'foo', and if I make foo private as well it naturally can't be accessed from a third class.

Is it even possible or should I be looking for an entirely different solution entirely? Is there a structural design pattern that resolves this issue?

2 Answers
2

Try this:

public interface IInnerClass {
}

public class OuterClass {
public IInnerClass foo {get; private set;}
public OuterClass() {
foo = new InnerClass();
}
private class InnerClass : IInnerClass {
sometype somevar;
public InnerClass(){}
}
}


Your InnerClass is private, but you can have a public interface to it.

This may be Helpful :

public class OuterClass {
public InnerClass foo {get; private set}
public OuterClass() {
foo = new InnerClass()
}
public class InnerClass {
protected sometype somevar;
protected InnerClass()
}
}


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