S4049 — Properties should be preferred

Why is this an issue?

Properties are accessed like fields which makes them easier to use.

This rule raises an issue when the name of a public or protected method starts with Get, takes no parameter, and returns a value that is not an array.

Noncompliant code example

using System;

namespace MyLibrary
{
    public class Foo
    {
        private string name;

        public string GetName()  // Noncompliant
        {
            return name;
        }
    }
}

Compliant solution

using System;

namespace MyLibrary
{
    public class Foo
    {
        private string name;

        public string Name
        {
            get
            {
                return name;
            }
        }
    }
}

Exceptions

The rule doesn’t raise an issue when the method:

• Is a constructor
• Is an override
• Is an interface implementation
• Is async
• Returns Task, Task<T>
• Is named GetEnumerator, GetAwaiter