Struct visibility
Structs have an extra level of visibility with their fields. The visibility defaults to private, and can be overridden with the pub
modifier. This visibility only matters when a struct is accessed from outside the module where it is defined, and has the goal of hiding information (encapsulation).
mod my {
// A public struct with a public field of generic type `T`
pub struct OpenBox<T> {
pub contents: T,
}
// A public struct with a private field of generic type `T`
pub struct ClosedBox<T> {
contents: T,
}
impl<T> ClosedBox<T> {
// A public constructor method
pub fn new(contents: T) -> ClosedBox<T> {
ClosedBox {
contents: contents,
}
}
}
}
fn main() {
// Public structs with public fields can be constructed as usual
let open_box = my::OpenBox { contents: "public information" };
// and their fields can be normally accessed.
println!("The open box contains: {}", open_box.contents);
// Public structs with private fields cannot be constructed using field names.
// Error! `ClosedBox` has private fields
//let closed_box = my::ClosedBox { contents: "classified information" };
// TODO ^ Try uncommenting this line
// However, structs with private fields can be created using
// public constructors
let _closed_box = my::ClosedBox::new("classified information");
// and the private fields of a public struct cannot be accessed.
// Error! The `contents` field is private
//println!("The closed box contains: {}", _closed_box.contents);
// TODO ^ Try uncommenting this line
}