C# Error CS0236 – A field initializer cannot reference the non-static field, method, or property ‘name’

C# Compiler Error

CS0236 – A field initializer cannot reference the non-static field, method, or property ‘name’

Reason for the Error

You will receive this error in your C# program when you are trying to initialize a member or variable using other instance fields outside of method.

For example, try to compile the below code snippet.

namespace DeveloperPubNamespace
{
    public class Employee
    {
        public string SurName = "";
        public string LastName = SurName;

    }
    class Program
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
        }
    }
}

This program will result with the C# error code CS0236 because the instance field LastName is initialized directly (outside of method) using another instance field SurName.

Error CS0236 A field initializer cannot reference the non-static field, method, or property ‘Employee.SurName’ DeveloperPublish C:\Users\SenthilBalu\source\repos\ConsoleApp3\ConsoleApp3\Program.cs 6 Active

Solution

To fix the error code CS0236 in C#, you should consider initializing the field either inside a method or using the class’s constructor.

namespace DeveloperPubNamespace
{
    public class Employee
    {
        public string SurName = "";
        public string LastName;
        public Employee()
        {
            LastName = SurName;
        }

    }
    class Program
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
        }
    }
}