Like a regular member variable, a property van be created as static. To do this, precede its name with the static keyword. A static property can implement only the behavior of a static member variable. Here is an example:

public ref class CComputerInventory
{
private:
    static String ^ name;

public:
    property static String ^ ComputerName
    {
	String ^ get() { return name; }
	void set(String ^ nm) { name = nm; }
    }
};

After creating a static property, you can access it outside using the . or the -> operators. Because it is static, you can also access it using the :: operator applied to the name of the class. Here are examples:

using namespace System;

public ref class CComputerInventory
{
private:
    static String ^ name;
    static String ^ mnUser;

public:
    property static String ^ ComputerName
    {
	String ^ get() { return name; }
	void set(String ^ nm) { name = nm; }
    }

    property static String ^ MainUser
    {
	String ^ get() { return mnUser; }
	void set(String ^ user) { mnUser = user; }
    }
};

void ListComputer(CComputerInventory ^ cInv)
{
    Console::WriteLine(L"Computer Inventory");
    Console::WriteLine(L"Computer Name: {0}", cInv->ComputerName);
    Console::WriteLine(L"Main User:     {0}", cInv->MainUser);
}

int main()
{
    CComputerInventory ^ inv = gcnew CComputerInventory;
    CComputerInventory::ComputerName = L"CNTLWKS228";
    CComputerInventory::MainUser     = L"Gertrude Monay";

    ListComputer(inv);

    Console::WriteLine();
    return 0;
}

This would produce:

Computer Inventory
Computer Name: CNTLWKS228
Main User:     Gertrude Monay

Press any key to continue . . .

As done for a primitive type, you can create a property that is based on a class. If the class is managed, type the ^ operator between the class's name and its property name. We will see an example in Lesson 16.

All of the properties we have created so far were of primitive types in the stack. You can also create a property in the managed heap. To do this, type the ^ operator between its data type and its name.

When you derive a class from another, the new class inherits the (public) properties of the parent class. This is one of the most valuable characteristics of properties.