What is the best way to give a C# auto-property an initial value?

In C# 5 and earlier, to give auto implemented properties an initial value, you have to do it in a constructor.

Since C# 6.0, you can specify initial value in-line. The syntax is:

public int X { get; set; } = x; // C# 6 or higher

DefaultValueAttribute is intended to be used by the VS designer (or any other consumer) to specify a default value, not an initial value. (Even if in designed object, initial value is the default value).

At compile time DefaultValueAttribute will not impact the generated IL and it will not be read to initialize the property to that value (see DefaultValue attribute is not working with my Auto Property).

Example of attributes that impact the IL are ThreadStaticAttribute, CallerMemberNameAttribute, ...

Edited on 1/2/15

C# 6 :

With C# 6 you can initialize auto-properties directly (finally!), there are now other answers in the thread that describe that.

C# 5 and below:

Though the intended use of the attribute is not to actually set the values of the properties, you can use reflection to always set them anyway...

public class DefaultValuesTest
{    
    public DefaultValuesTest()
    {               
        foreach (PropertyDescriptor property in TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(this))
        {
            DefaultValueAttribute myAttribute = (DefaultValueAttribute)property.Attributes[typeof(DefaultValueAttribute)];

            if (myAttribute != null)
            {
                property.SetValue(this, myAttribute.Value);
            }
        }
    }

    public void DoTest()
    {
        var db = DefaultValueBool;
        var ds = DefaultValueString;
        var di = DefaultValueInt;
    }


    [System.ComponentModel.DefaultValue(true)]
    public bool DefaultValueBool { get; set; }

    [System.ComponentModel.DefaultValue("Good")]
    public string DefaultValueString { get; set; }

    [System.ComponentModel.DefaultValue(27)]
    public int DefaultValueInt { get; set; }
}

When you inline an initial value for a variable it will be done implicitly in the constructor anyway.

I would argue that this syntax was best practice in C# up to 5:

class Person 
{
    public Person()
    {
        //do anything before variable assignment

        //assign initial values
        Name = "Default Name";

        //do anything after variable assignment
    }
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

As this gives you clear control of the order values are assigned.

As of C#6 there is a new way:

public string Name { get; set; } = "Default Name";