What does this C# code with an "arrow" mean and how is it called?
That is a lambda expression. It is a very special anonymous delegate. Basically you are defining a method and not giving a name. Its parameters are to the left of the =>
and the method body is to the right of the =>
. In your particular case,
(se, cert, chain, sslerror) => { return true; };
is an anonymous method defined by a lambda expression. This particular method has four parameters
object se
X509Certificate cert
X509Chain chain
SslPolicyErrors sslerror
and the method body is
return true;
It's as if you had said
class ServerCertificateValidation {
public bool OnRemoteCertificateValidation(
object se,
X509Certificate cert,
X509Chain chain,
SslPolicyErrors sslerror
) {
return true;
}
}
and then
var validation = new ServerCertificateValidation();
System.Net.ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback +=
validation.OnRemoteCertificateValidation;
How is that
(blah,blah,blah)=>{return true;}
construct called and where can I find more info on such constructs?
It's called the same way that any other method is called. For example, you can do this:
Func<int, int, int> adder = (m, n) => m + n;
Here I am defining a method that eats a pair of int
and returns an int
. That int
is obtained by adding the values of the input parameters. It can be invoked like any other method.
int four = adder(2, 2);
Here's an article on MSDN on lambda expressions and an article on the lambda operator. If you're really interested, the name comes from lambda calculus.
For completeness (for search results, etc): in more recent versions of C# (since 6.0), the =>
syntax has been extended from just lambdas for delegates and expression trees, to cover expression-bodied members. This means that a range of simple members such as properties, methods, etc - can be implemented as expression bodies; for example:
public int Foo { get { return innerObj.SomeProp; } }
public void Bar() { Write("Thing"); }
can be written:
public int Foo => innerObj.SomeProp;
public void Bar() => Write("Thing");