C# – Understanding the Question Mark in Member Access

c++nulloperators

Can someone please explain to me what does the question mark in the member access in the following code means?

Is it part of standard C#? I get parse errors when trying to compile this file in Xamarin Studio.

this.AnalyzerLoadFailed?.Invoke(this, new AnalyzerLoadFailureEventArgs(AnalyzerLoadFailureEventArgs.FailureErrorCode.NoAnalyzers, null, null));

AnalyzerFileReference.cs line 195

Best Answer

It is Null Propagation operator introduced in C# 6, it will call the method only if object this.AnalyzerLoadFailed is not null:

this.AnalyzerLoadFailed?.Invoke(this, new AnalyzerLoadFailureEventArgs(AnalyzerLoadFailureEventArgs.FailureErrorCode.NoAnalyzers, null, null));

is equal to :

if( this.AnalyzerLoadFailed != null)
    this.AnalyzerLoadFailed.Invoke(this, new AnalyzerLoadFailureEventArgs(AnalyzerLoadFailureEventArgs.FailureErrorCode.NoAnalyzers, null, null));

See C# 6.0 – Null Propagation Operator , also you can see here

i also once wrote about this upcoming feature in c# 6 here

Related Solutions

C# – Understanding the Null-Coalescing Operator (??)

It's the null coalescing operator, and quite like the ternary (immediate-if) operator. See also ?? Operator - MSDN.

FormsAuth = formsAuth ?? new FormsAuthenticationWrapper();

expands to:

FormsAuth = formsAuth != null ? formsAuth : new FormsAuthenticationWrapper();

which further expands to:

if(formsAuth != null)
    FormsAuth = formsAuth;
else
    FormsAuth = new FormsAuthenticationWrapper();

In English, it means "If whatever is to the left is not null, use that, otherwise use what's to the right."

Note that you can use any number of these in sequence. The following statement will assign the first non-null Answer# to Answer (if all Answers are null then the Answer is null):

string Answer = Answer1 ?? Answer2 ?? Answer3 ?? Answer4;

Also it's worth mentioning while the expansion above is conceptually equivalent, the result of each expression is only evaluated once. This is important if for example an expression is a method call with side effects. (Credit to @Joey for pointing this out.)

C# Nullable – Understanding ? Operator after Type Declaration in C#

? is just syntactic sugar, it means that the field is Nullable. It is actually short for Nullable<T>.

In C# and Visual Basic, you mark a value type as nullable by using the ? notation after the value type. For example, int? in C# or Integer? in Visual Basic declares an integer value type that can be assigned null.

You can't assign null to value types, int being a value type can't hold null value, int? on the other hand can store null value.

Same is the case with Color, since it is a structure (thus value type) and it can't hold null values, with Color?[,] you are making an array of nullable Color.

For your question:

The variable 'a' is not initialized. When and where would you use this?

By using ? with variable doesn't make it initialized with null or any other value, it is still has to be initialized.

int? a = null; 

int b = null;//error since b is not nullable

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Related Solutions

C# – Understanding the Null-Coalescing Operator (??)

C# Nullable – Understanding ? Operator after Type Declaration in C#

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