I have a base class "Parent" like this:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Parent
    {
        private int parentVirtualInt = -1;
        public virtual int VirtualProperty
        {
            get
            {
                return parentVirtualInt;
            }
            set
            {
                if(parentVirtualInt != value)
                {
                    parentVirtualInt = value;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

and a child class like this:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Child : Parent
    {
        public override int VirtualProperty
        {
            get
            {
                if(base.VirtualProperty > 0)
                {
                    throw new ApplicationException("Dummy Ex");
                }
                return base.VirtualProperty;
            }
            set
            {
                if(base.VirtualProperty != value)
                {
                    base.VirtualProperty = value;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Note that the getter in Child is calling the getter of Parent (or at least this is what I intend).

I now use the "Child" class by instantiating it, assigning a value (let's say 4) to its VirtualProperty and then reading the property again.

Child c = new Child();
c.VirtualProperty = 4;
Console.Out.WriteLine("Child.VirtualProperty: " + c.VirtualProperty);

When I run this, I obviously get an ApplicationException saying "Dummy Ex". But if I set a breakpoint on the line

if(base.VirtualProperty > 0)

in Child and check the value of base.VirtualProperty (by hovering the mouse over it) before the exception can be thrown (I assume(d)), I already get the Exception. From this I convey that the statement base.VirtualProperty in the "Child-Getter calls itself"; kind of.

What I would like to achieve is the same behavior I get when I change the definition of parentVirutalInt (in Parent) to protected and use base.parentVirtualInt in the Getter of Child instead of base.VirtualProperty. And I don't yet see why this is not working. Can anybody shed some light on this? I feel that overridden properties behave differently than overridden methods?

By the way: I am doing something very similar with subclassing a class I do not have any control over (this is the main reason why my "workaround" is not an option).

Kind regards