The original of this
document was developed by the Microsoft special interest group. We made some
addons.
This document explains
the naming conventions that should be used with .NET projects.
A consistent naming
pattern is one of the most important elements of predictability and
discoverability in a managed class library. Widespread use and understanding
of these naming guidelines should eliminate unclear code and make it easier
for developers to understand shared code.
Capitalization
Styles Defined
We define three types
of capitalization styles:
Pascal case
The first letter in
the identifier and the first letter of each subsequent concatenated word are
capitalized.
Example:
BackColor, DataSet
Camel case
The first letter of an
identifier is lowercase and the first letter of each subsequent concatenated
word is capitalized.
Example:
numberOfDays, isValid
Uppercase
All letters in the
identifier are capitalized.
Example:
ID, PI
Hungarian
Type Notation Defined
Hungarian notation is
any of a variety of standards for organizing a computer program by selecting
a schema for naming your variables so that their type is readily available to
someone familiar with the notation. It is in fact a commenting technique.
Example:
strFirstName, intNumberOfDays
There are different
opinions about using this kind of type notation in programming nowadays. Some
say that it’s useful, and it should be used everywhere to enhance clarity of
your code. Others say it just obfuscates your code, because it has no real
advantage in modern programming environments.
Our point of view is a
moderated one: use it wisely, meaning, we only use Hungarian notation for private or local variables, that are only accessible and interesting to
the programmer of the class.
Don’t use it with
public variables, properties
or parameters in methods, because they are exposed to the outside world.
Someone who uses your classes and accesses properties of your class, is not
interested in type, but just wants to use them.
In the .NET framework,
there are a lot of types, so we extended and adapted the Hungarian notation
with our own type notation.
Naming
Guidelines
1). Private
Variables (Fields in C#) Naming Guidelines
Naming guidelines
Prefix private
variables with a "_" and Hungarian-style notation.
Case guidelines
Use camel case as a
general rule, or uppercase for very small words
Example:
_strFirstName, _dsEmployees
// Field
private OleDbConnection _connection;
// Property
public OleDbConnection Connection
{
get { return _connection; }
set { _connection = value; }
}
2). Local
Variables Naming Guidelines
Naming guidelines
Prefix private or
local variables with Hungarian-style notation.
Case guidelines
Use camel case as a
general rule, or uppercase for very small words
Example:
strFirstName, dsEmployees
3). Namespace
Naming Guidelines
Naming guidelines
The general rule for
naming namespaces is to use the company name followed by the technology name
and optionally the feature and design as follows:
CompanyName.TechnologyName[.Feature][.Design]
Prefixing namespace
names with a company name or other well-established brand avoids the
possibility of two published namespaces having the same name. Use a stable,
recognized technology name at the second level of a hierarchical name.
Example:
Akadia.Traffic, System.Web.UI, System.Windows.Forms
Case guidelines
Use Pascal case as a
general rule, or uppercase for very small words.
Example:
System.Windows.Forms,
System.Web.UI
4). Class Naming
Guidelines
Naming guidelines
Use a noun or noun
phrase to name a class.
Do not use a type prefix, such as C for class, on a class name.
Do not use the underscore character (_).
Case guidelines
Use Pascal case.
Example:
FileStream, Button
5). Interface
Naming Guidelines
Naming guidelines
Prefix interface names
with the letter "I", to indicate that the type is an interface.
Do not use the underscore character (_).
Case guidelines
Use Pascal case.
Example:
IServiceProvider, IFormatable
6). Parameter
Naming Guidelines
Naming guidelines
Use descriptive
parameter names. Parameter names should be descriptive enough that the name
of the parameter and its type can be used to determine its meaning in most
scenarios. To distinguish parameters from other variables the prefix "p" should be used.
Do not prefix
parameter names with Hungarian type notation.
Do not use a prefix for parameter names of an event handler and exceptions.
Case guidelines
Use camel case.
Example:
pTypeName, pNumberOfItems, pintNumberOfItems
7). Method
Naming Guidelines
Naming guidelines
Use verbs or verb
phrases to name methods.
Case guidelines
Use Pascal case.
Example:
RemoveAll(), GetCharAt()
8). Property /
Enumerations Naming Guidelines
Naming guidelines
Use a noun or noun
phrase to name properties.
Do not use Hungarian notation.
Case guidelines
Use Pascal case.
Example:
BackColor, NumberOfItems
9). Event Naming
Guidelines
Naming guidelines
Use an EventHandler
suffix on event handler names.
Specify two parameters
named sender and e. The sender parameter represents the object that raised
the event. The sender parameter is always of type object, even if it is
possible to use a more specific type. The state associated with the event is
encapsulated in an instance of an event class named "e". Use an appropriate and specific event class
for the e parameter type.
Name an event argument
class with the EventArgs suffix.
Case guidelines
Use Pascal case.
Example:
public delegate void
MouseEventHandler(object sender, MouseEventArgs e);
9). Exception
Naming Guidelines
Naming guidelines
Event handlers in
Visual Studio .NET tend to use an "e" parameter for the event
parameter to the call. To ensure we avoid a conflict, we will use "ex"
as a standard variable name for an Exception object.
Example
catch (Exception ex)
{
// Handle Exception
}
10).
Constant Naming Guidelines
The names of variables
declared class constants should be all uppercase with words separated by
underscores. It is recommended to use a grouping naming schema.
Example (for group
AP_WIN):
AP_WIN_MIN_WIDTH,
AP_WIN_MAX_WIDTH, AP_WIN_MIN_HIGHT, AP_WIN_MAX_HIGHT
11). C# Primitive Type
Notation
sbyte sbyt
short shrt
int int
long lng
byte byt
ushort ushrt
uint uint
ulong ulng
float flt
double dbl
decimal dec
bool bln
char ch
12). Visual
Control Type Notation
Assembly
asm
Boolean
bln
Button
btn
Char
ch
CheckBox
cbx
ComboBox
cmb
Container
ctr
DataColumn
dcol
DataGrid
dg
DataGridDateTimePickerColumn
dgdtpc
DataGridTableStyle
dgts
DataGridTextBoxColumn
dgtbc
DataReader
dreader
DataRow
drow
DataSet
dset
DataTable
dtable
DateTime
date
Dialog
dialog
DialogResult
dr
Double
dbl
Exception
ex
GroupBox
gbx
HashTable
htbl
ImageList
iml
Integer
int
Label
lbl
ListBox
lbx
ListView lv
MarshallByRefObject
rmt
Mainmenu
mm
MenuItem
mi
MDI-Frame
frame
MDI-Sheet
sheet
NumericUpDown
nud
Panel
pnl
PictureBox
pbx
RadioButton
rbtn
SDI-Form
form
SqlCommand
sqlcom
SqlCommandBuilder
sqlcomb
SqlConnection
sqlcon
SqlDataAdapter
sqlda
StatusBar
stb
String
str
StringBuilder
strb
TabControl
tabctrl
TabPage
tabpage
TextBox
tbx
ToolBar
tbr
ToolBarButton
tbb
Timer
tmr
UserControl
usr
WindowsPrincipal
wpl
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