Ordering

• Using directives must be placed within a namespace (SA1200).

• Elements at the file root level or within a namespace must be positioned in the following order (SA1201):

  1. extern alias directives

  2. using directives

  3. namespaces

  4. delegates

  5. enumerations

  6. interfaces

  7. structs

  8. classes

  Within a class, struct or interface, the following positioning must be applied:

  1. fields

  2. constructors

  3. finalizers (destructors)

  4. delegates

  5. events

  6. enumerations

  7. interfaces

  8. properties

  9. indexers

  10. methods

  11. structs

  12. classes

• Elements must be ordered by accessibility (SA1202). Adjacent elements of the same type must adhere to the following positioning:

  1. public

  2. internal

  3. protected internal

  4. protected

  5. private

• Constants must appear before fields (SA1203).

• Static elements must appear before instance elements (SA1204).

• Partial elements must declare access (SA1205).

• Declaration keywords must adhere to the following ordering scheme (SA1206):

  1. access modifiers

  2. static

  3. all other keywords

• The keyword protected must be positioned before the keyword internal when declaring a protected internal C# element (SA1207).

• Property accessors must adhere to the following ordering scheme (SA1212):

  1. get accessors

  2. set accessors

• Event accessors must adhere to the following ordering scheme (SA123):

  1. add accessor

  2. remove accessor

• Static read-only elements must appear before static non-read-only elements (SA1214).

• Instance read-only elements must appear before instance non-read-only elements (SA1215).

• System using directives must be placed before other using directives (SA1208).

• Using alias directives must be placed after other using directives (SA1209).

• Using directives must be ordered alphabetically by namespace (SA1210).

• Using alias directives must be ordered alphabetically by alias name (SA1211).

  Note

  • In Visual Studio, you can easily sort the using directives by positioning the cursor on a using directive in the code editor and selecting Organize Usings > Sort Usings from the context menu. In case you want to also remove unnecessary using directives, select Organize Usings > Remove and Sort Usings from the context menu.
  • In order to let Visual Studio put System directives first when sorting namespaces, go to Tools > Options. In the list on the left, go to Text Editor > C# > Advanced and select the checkbox Place 'System' directives first when sorting usings.
  • If "#define" preprocessor directives are used, make sure they are present and not commented out when using the above. Failing to do so can cause quick action build failures.