the answer is yes you can and when you're unit testing.
Within the system.runtime.serialization namespace there's a static FormatterServices class with a GetUnitializedObject(Type) method, this method lets you create a new instance of an object without constructing it.
using System;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
namespace pav.InitializationB4Instantiation
{
class Dog
{
string name;
public string Name {
get => name ?? "Spot";
set => name = value;
}
public Dog() => Console.WriteLine($"Name: {Name}");
}
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Create instance of dog without instantiating the object
var dog = FormatterServices.GetUninitializedObject(typeof(Dog));
//get an instance of the parameterless constructor of Dog
var dogCtor = typeof(Dog).GetConstructor(Type.EmptyTypes);
//Set the Name property to "Fluffy"
((Dog)dog).Name = "Fluffy";
//instantiate Dog
dogCtor.Invoke(dog, null);
//instantiate a default dog
new Dog();
}
}
}
Obviously this is an extremely contrived example, but the take away is that you can modify the classes properties before "newing" up an instance of it which can be vary useful when unit testing code.
