Aggregation And Composition In C#

In today's discussion, we will discuss Aggregation and Composition in detail using C#. So, let's get started. Let me go ahead and create simple console App for demo purpose.

  1. namespace CSharpStuffs    
  2. {    
  3.    public class Patient    
  4.     {    
  5.         public string PatientName { getset; }    
  6.         public string AdmissionDate { getset; }    
  7.         public string ReleaseDate { getset; }    
  8.     
  9.         public DoctorInfo DoctorInfo { getset; }    
  10.         public LifeInsurance Insurance { getset; }    
  11.         }    
  12.   }   
  1. namespace CSharpStuffs    
  2. {    
  3.    public class LifeInsurance    
  4.    {    
  5.        public string PolicyName;    
  6.        public string CompanyName;    
  7.    }    
  8. }  
Once, the class gets created, It's time to feed the value via constructor. Hence, the following is the final code for the same.
  1. namespace CSharpStuffs    
  2. {    
  3.    public class Patient    
  4.     {    
  5.         public string PatientName { getset; }    
  6.         public string AdmissionDate { getset; }    
  7.         public string ReleaseDate { getset; }    
  8.     
  9.         public DoctorInfo DoctorInfo { getset; }    
  10.         public LifeInsurance Insurance { getset; }    
  11.     
  12.        public Patient(string patientName,string admissionDate,string releaseDate,string doctorName,string doctorSpeciality, string workingAt)    
  13.        {    
  14.            PatientName = patientName;    
  15.            AdmissionDate = admissionDate;    
  16.            ReleaseDate = releaseDate;    
  17.     
  18.            //Composition comes into picture now    
  19.            //It also means when we construct Patient, we also constructed DoctorInfo    
  20.            //Hence, scope of Doctorinfo is dependent on Patient    
  21.            DoctorInfo = new DoctorInfo    
  22.            {    
  23.                DoctorName = doctorName,    
  24.                DoctorSpeciality = doctorSpeciality,    
  25.                WorkingAt = workingAt    
  26.            };    
  27.     
  28.        }    
  29.     
  30.        //Overrideenn ToString() for convience     
  31.        public override string ToString()    
  32.        {    
  33.            string result = PatientName + " " +    
  34.                            AdmissionDate + " " +    
  35.                            ReleaseDate + " ";    
  36.            //Filling Other objects    
  37.            if (DoctorInfo != null)    
  38.            {    
  39.                result += DoctorInfo.DoctorName + " "    
  40.                          + DoctorInfo.DoctorSpeciality + " "    
  41.                          + DoctorInfo.WorkingAt;    
  42.            }    
  43.            if (Insurance != null)    
  44.            {    
  45.                result += " "+ Insurance.PolicyName + " "    
  46.                          + Insurance.CompanyName;    
  47.            }    
  48.            return result;    
  49.        }    
  50.     }    
  51. }   
You will also notice that here, I have used Composition concept. Composition is tied with actual object which is patient here and hence DoctorInfo also got constructed.

Now, main program looks like the following:
  1. using System;    
  2.     
  3. namespace CSharpStuffs    
  4. {    
  5.     class Program    
  6.     {    
  7.         static void Main(string[] args)    
  8.         {    
  9.             Patient patient = new Patient("Tim","12-08-2015","20-08-2015","Cook","Physician","Fortis");    
  10.             Console.WriteLine(patient.ToString());    
  11.             Console.ReadLine();    
  12.         }    
  13.     }    
  14. }  
And, when I run the program, it will produce the following output.

run

However, I can modify the main program to add more info to this via aggregation as shown below.
  1. using System;    
  2.     
  3. namespace CSharpStuffs    
  4. {    
  5.     class Program    
  6.     {    
  7.         static void Main(string[] args)    
  8.         {    
  9.             Patient patient = new Patient("Tim","12-08-2015","20-08-2015","Cook","Physician","Fortis");    
  10.             Console.WriteLine(patient.ToString());    
  11.                 
  12.     
  13.             //Now, we can add insurance by aggregation    
  14.             patient.Insurance = new LifeInsurance    
  15.             {    
  16.                 CompanyName = "HDFC",    
  17.                 PolicyName = "LIFE-AXA"    
  18.             };    
  19.             Console.WriteLine(patient.ToString());    
  20.             Console.ReadLine();    
  21.         }    
  22.     }    
  23. }   
With the above change in place, it will display the following info.

display

Therefore, in a nutshell, Aggregation is the stuff which can be added at later point of time to the object, but composition gets constructed with object creation itself.

Thanks!

 


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