C#: public method{get{} set{}} question - c#

I'm not entirely sure if I have all the terminology correct so forgive me if I'm wrong. I was wondering if it would be possible to send an argument(s) to the method. Take the following for example.
public item (int index)
{
get { return list[index]; }
set { list[index] = value; }
}
I know that as it is, it will error. What I'm asking is if there is some way to get it working. Any suggestions or should I figure out some way around it?
Thanks in advance.

Try this:
// This returns an instance of type "Foo",
// since I didn't know the type of "list".
// Obviously the return type would need to
// match the type of whatever "list" contains.
public Foo this[int index]
{
get { return list[index]; }
set { list[index] = value; }
}
This is C#'s indexer syntax and it has some limitations (it's not as flexible as VB.NET's parameterful properties) but it does work for your specific example.

As others have shown, you can turn it into an indexer - which can have multiple parameters, by the way.
What you can't do is name an indexer in C#... although you can in VB. So you can't have two indexers, one called Foo and the other called Bar... you'd need to write properties which returned values which were themselves indexable. It's a bit of a pain, to be honest :(

This is called indexer property
public int this [int index]
{
get { return list[index]; }
set { list[index] = value; }
}

I think what you might be looking for is:
public Something this[int index]
{
get
{
return list[index];
}
set
{
list[index] = value;
}
}

For the record, Whilst the other answers are valid, you might also want to consider using the following approach:
public IList<Something> items { get; set; }
This could then be used as follows:
Something item = myFoo.items[1];
The other answers would be used in the following, slightly different, way:
Something item = myFoo[1];
The one you want depends on what exactly you are trying to achieve, which is difficult to determine without seeing the rest of the code.

Besides the indexer that has been mentioned several times now, another possibility is to make a custom class with an indexer and return an instance of it as a property.
Example:
public class IntList
{
public IntList(IEnumerable<int> source)
{
items = source.ToArray();
Squares = new SquareList(this);
}
private int[] items;
// The indexer everyone else mentioned
public int this[int index]
{
get { return items[index]; }
set { items[index] = value; }
}
// Other properties might be useful:
public SquareList Squares { get; private set; }
public class SquareList
{
public SquareList(IntList list)
{
this.list = list;
}
private IntList list;
public int this[int index]
{
get { return list.items[index] * list.items[index]; }
}
}
}

You can use indexator for solving this problem
public object this[string name]
{
get
{
int idx = FindParam(name);
if (idx != -1)
return _params[idx].Value;
throw new IndexOutOfRangeException(String.Format("Parameter \"{0}\" not found in this collection", name));
}
set
{
int idx = FindParam(name);
if (idx != -1)
_params[idx].Value = value;
else
throw new IndexOutOfRangeException(String.Format("Parameter \"{0}\" not found in this collection", name));
}
}

Related

converting an unknown long\int\short to double in C#

In my app I have a scenario in which I get a list of unknown type that could be either int\long\short.
I need to convert this list to double.
what is the quickest and most efficient way to achieve this? (it needs to be as fast as it could be)
I assume you have List<object> and you need to convert it to List<double>
Try this, this will work for all types which implements IConvertible. long, int, short, float,etc...
var doubleList = objectList.Select(x=> Convert.ToDouble(x)).ToList();
try this
List<double> doubleList = intList.ConvertAll(x => (double)x);
Nicely simple:
var doubleList = listOfObjects.Select(i => Convert.ToDouble(i)).ToList();
Micro-optimising because you say "most efficient" is important:
int count = listOfObjects.Count;
var doubleList = new List<double>(listOfObjects.Count);
for(int i = 0; i != count; ++i)
doubleList.Add(Convert.ToDouble(listOfObjects[i]));
However, "most efficient" depends on just what you need it to be most efficient at. You get different efficiencies with:
public class DoubleList : IList<double>
{
private readonly List<object> _source; // Change to IList<object> if that's a possibility
public DoubleList(List<object> source)
{
_source = _source;
}
// Hide half-supported implementation from main interface
double IList<double>.this[int index]
{
get { return Convert.ToDouble(_source[index]); }
set { throw new NotSupportedException("Read-only collection"); }
}
public double this[int index]
{
get { return Convert.ToDouble(_source[index]); }
}
public int Count
{
get { return _source.Count; }
}
bool ICollection<double>.IsReadOnly
{
get { return true; }
}
/* Lots of boring and obvious implementations skipped */
public struct Enumerator : IEnumerator<double>
{
// note, normally we'd just use yield return in the
// GetEnumerator(), and we certainly wouldn't use
// a struct here (there are issues), but this
// optimisation is in the spirit of "most efficient"
private List<object>.Enumerator _en; //Mutable struct! Don't make field readonly!
public double Current
{
get { return Convert.ToDouble(_en.Current); }
}
object IEnumerator.Current
{
get { return Current; }
}
public void Dispose()
{
_en.Dispose();
}
public bool MoveNext()
{
return _en.MoveNext();
}
public void Reset()
{
_en.Reset();
}
}
public Enumerator GetEnumerator()
{
return new Enumerator(_source.GetEnumerator());
}
IEnumerator<double> IEnumerable<double>.GetEnumerator()
{
return GetEnumerator();
}
IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
{
return GetEnumerator();
}
}
var doubleList = new DoubleList(listOfObjects);
This moves around what happens when in such a way as to change what costs what. You'll return in constant time, but actually using the list will be more expensive. However, if you're only going to look at a few fields, or perhaps only going to obtain the count and then enumerate through it, then the fact that this doesn't do a full copy can make it much more efficient.

Using localized enum as DataSource

I've lots of enums in my app. Most of them are used on combos like this:
Enum.GetValues(typeof(TipoControlador))
Now I'd like to localize them like this: Localizing enum descriptions attributes
How can I combine them? My first thought was to override the ToString method with an extension method, but that's not possible =(
Using the other article as a basis, you can create an extension method like this:
public static class LocalizedEnumExtensions
{
private static ResourceManager _resources = new ResourceManager("MyClass.myResources",
System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());
public static IEnumerable<string> GetLocalizedNames(this IEnumerable enumValues)
{
foreach(var e in enumValues)
{
string localizedDescription = _resources.GetString(String.Format("{0}.{1}", e.GetType(), e));
if(String.IsNullOrEmpty(localizedDescription))
{
yield return e.ToString();
}
else
{
yield return localizedDescription;
}
}
}
}
You would use it like this:
Enum.GetValues(typeof(TipoControlador)).GetLocalizedNames();
Technically, this extension method will accept any array, and you can't restrict it to only work on an enum, but you could add extra validation inside the extension method if you feel it's important:
if(!e.GetType().IsEnum) throw new InvalidOperationException(String.Format("{0} is not a valid Enum!", e.GetType()));
You have 2 problems here, the first is how to localize enums which is solved by Localizing enum descriptions attributes.
The second is how to display the localized name whilst using the enum's value. This can be solved by creating a simple wrapper object such as:
public sealed class NamedItem
{
private readonly string name;
private readonly object value;
public NamedItem (string name, object value)
{
this.name = name;
this.value = value;
}
public string Name { get { return name; } }
public object Value { get { return value; } }
public override string ToString ()
{
return name;
}
}
This provides a generic re-usable class for any drop down box where you might want to show a different name for an item than the item itself provides (eg enums, ints, etc).
Once you have this class, you can set the drop down's DisplayMember to Name and ValueMember to Value. This will mean that dropdown.SelectedValue will still return your enum.
I know this question is old, but this may help some people.
You can just handle the Format event of the ComboBox control (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.listcontrol.format.aspx), and add your text logic in it.
private void ComboBoxFormat(object sender, ListControlConvertEventArgs e)
{
e.Value = GetDescription(e.Value);
}
public static string GetDescription(object item)
{
string desc = null;
Type type = item.GetType();
MemberInfo[] memInfo = type.GetMember(item.ToString());
if (memInfo != null && memInfo.Length > 0)
{
object[] attrs = memInfo[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
if (attrs != null && attrs.Length > 0)
{
desc = (attrs[0] as DescriptionAttribute).Description;
}
}
if (desc == null) // Description not found
{
desc = item.ToString();
}
return desc;
}
With this, the ComboBox control still holds enum values rather than strings.

more elegant design about enum

I'm on learning for C#.
I heared C# is one of the most constructible language. so would you guys make my code more elegant and efficient?
public class ISO639
{
public enum ISO639Code
{
Afrikaans, //af
Albanian, //sq
Amharic, //am
...
Yiddish, //yi
Unknown
}
public static string GetISO639CodeString(ISO639.ISO639Code l)
{
switch (l)
{
case ISO639Code.English: return "en";
case ISO639Code.Japanese: return "ja";
...
case ISO639Code.Hebrew: return "he";
default: return "";
}
public static ISO639.ISO639Code GetISO39CodeValue(string s)
{
switch (s)
{
case "ko" : return ISO639Code.Korean;
case "en" : return ISO639Code.English;
...
case "hu" : return ISO639Code.Hungarian;
default: return ISO639Code.Unknown;
}
}
}
Here is a my class ISO639. This class provides enum for ISO639 code, but I need a type conversion on from ISO639 enum to plain string. (ex. ISO639.ISO639Code.Italian => "it"). I also need a type conversion from plain string to ISO639 enum. (ex. "it" => ISO639.ISO639Code.Italian).
Is there a more efficient coding style for that?
You can add standard System.ComponentModel.Description attribute to each enum entry and then read it.
public enum ISO639Code
{
[Description("af")]
Afrikaans
}
public static class EnumExtensions
{
// Extension method to read Description value
public static string GetDescription(this Enum currentEnum)
{
var fi = currentEnum.GetType().GetField(currentEnum.ToString());
var da = (DescriptionAttribute)Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(fi, typeof(DescriptionAttribute));
return da != null ? da.Description : currentEnum.ToString();
}
}
// **How-to read it**
ISO639Code isoCode = ISO639Code.Afrikaans;
// this will returns "af"
string isoDescription = isoCode.GetDescription();
EDIT:
string searchFor = "af";
ISO639Code foundEntry;
// Loop through all entries descriptions
var allEntries = Enum.GetValues(typeof(ISO639Code));
foreach (var entry in allEntries)
{
// If you will extract this as separate method and use it for search not only loop
// through the all entries - you can put here is yield return description
var currentEntry = ((ISO639Code)entry);
string description = currentEntry.GetDescription();
if (description == searchFor)
{
foundEntry = currentEntry;
break;
}
}
Sure. You can use attributes:
public enum ISO639Code
{
[CodeString("af")] Afrikaans,
[CodeString("sq")] Albanian,
}
Use dictionary, for example: new Dictionary<ISO639Code, string>.
I suggest you to use C# extension methods to enums, they allow you to add whatever logic you want.
For example, see http://pietschsoft.com/post/2008/07/c-enhance-enums-using-extension-methods.aspx
I'd simply store the information in a dictionary-like object. This way you can reference the name by key and get the value directly.
You have an enum:
public enum ISO639Code
{
Afrikaans = 1,
Albanian = 2,
Amharic = 3,
etc.
Create a database table:
ISO639Id int PK,
ISO639Code char(2)
Where the ISO639Id maps to the value of the enum.
In code you'd want a ISO630 Class containing Id and Code values read from the database.
(You can load this once and then cache it in memory.)
The beauty of this approach, is it can be easily extended so that if in future you wanted to store more pieces of information for each ISO639 code, you could simply add another field.
Look at System.Globailzation namespace. The functionality you require looks to be already implemented there. At worst you can see the architecture and technique applied in the .Net framework to solve a very similar problem.
Enumerations are really good to work in code, as they are really strongly typed and make refactoring easier.
Follow these steps:
Use attributes for whatever extra information you want to attach to an enum. Usually this is a simple Description attribute. Something like:
public enum IsoCodes
{
[Description("af")]
Africans = 0,
[Description("am")]
Americans = 1
}
Then write some extension methods to convert strings and integers to and from this enum:
public static string GetDescription(this Enum value)
{
var entries = value.ToString().Split(FlagEnumSeparatorCharacter);
var description = new string[entries.Length];
for (var i = 0; i < entries.Length; i++)
{
var fieldInfo = value.GetType().GetField(entries[i].Trim());
var attributes = fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false) as DescriptionAttribute[];
description[i] = (attributes.Length > 0) ? attributes[0].Description : entries[i].Trim();
}
return String.Join(", ", description);
}
public static int GetValue(this Enum value)
{
return (int)value.GetType().GetField(value.ToString()).GetRawConstantValue();
}
public static T ToEnum<T>(this string value)
{
if (typeof(T).BaseType.Name != typeof(Enum).Name)
{
throw new Exception("Not an enum");
}
return (T)Enum.Parse(typeof(T), value, true);
}
public static T ToEnum<T>(this int value)
{
if (typeof(T).BaseType.Name != typeof(Enum).Name)
{
throw new Exception("Not an enum");
}
return (T)Enum.ToObject(typeof(T), value);
}
Now use your enums as you like.
I would go with having ISO639Code as class instead of enum:
public class ISO639Code
{
public string Value { get; set ; }
public string Code { get; set; }
public ISO639Code()
{
this.Value = "";
this.Code = "";
}
public ISO639Code(string value, string code)
: this()
{
this.Value = value;
this.Code = code;
}
public override bool Equals(object obj)
{
if (obj != null)
{
if (obj is string)
return obj.ToString().Equals(this.Value, StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase);
if (obj is ISO639Code)
return ((ISO639Code)obj).Value.Equals(this.Value, StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase);
}
return false;
}
public override int GetHashCode()
{
return this.Value.GetHashCode();
}
public override string ToString()
{
return this.Value;
}
}
Then have global List<ISO639Code> with all possible codes, and to find specific code based on code name or value, just search for this in the List.
Personally, I prefer this over tweaking the enum.

How to override a calculated value?

So I have the following snippet of code:
private Nullable<decimal> _excessWages;
public decimal ExcessWages
{
get
{
return _excessWages ?? CalculateExcessWages();
}
set
{
if (value != CalculateExcessWages())
_excessWages = value;
else
_excessWages = null;
}
}
So basically the behavior I'm trying to implement is if a field is left blank or is assigned a value equal the calculated one use the calculated value, otherwise store the assigned value.
I have a lot of fields that need to support overriding like this. Is this the best way to accomplish this? If not what would you suggest?
I worked on this a bit based mostly on Vlad's suggestion. Turns out you can use a single generic class to abstract this. Here is the end result:
public class Overridable<T>
{
private Func<T> _calculate;
private readonly Func<T, T, bool> _compare;
protected T _t;
public Overridable(Func<T> calculate, Func<T, T, bool> compare)
{
_calculate = calculate;
_compare = compare;
}
public T Value
{
get { return _compare(_t, default(T)) ? _calculate() : _t; }
set { _t = _compare(value, _calculate()) ? default(T) : value; }
}
}
You need to pass in a compare delegate because the type isn't known until you set it in a subclass. So a simple == isn't going to cut it. I went the easy route and used a Func delegate but this could be replaced with a normal delegate if it had to be adapted for .NET 2.0 for some reason.
You'll notice I'm using default(T) instead of null. This works because the default value for a Nullable<T> is null (or more precisely, undefined but it works out to be the same).
This doesn't prevent you from trying to declare an Overridable<T> for a non-nullable type. What you'd wind up with won't through run time errors but it isn't as useful. Trying to set a Overridable<decimal>.Value to null will get you a compiler error. While setting it to default(decimal) will cause it to revert to calculating the value.
I went this route because the properties from this the class I'm using this in needs to populate a serializable object thats eventually transmitted as xml. The schema for the xml includes numeric fields defined as a mixture of integers, decimals and strings.
You then use the Overriddable class like so:
private Overridable<decimal?> _excessWages =
new Overridable<decimal?>(CalculateExcessWages, (x,y) => x == y);
public virtual decimal? ExcessWages
{
get
{
return _excessWages.Value;
}
set
{
_excessWages.Value = value;
}
}
The only problem I ran into with this was that CalculateExcessWages is a non-static method so it can't be used in a field initializer. Since all the properties in my class are non-static I had to initialize all the backing fields in the constructor.
You can make a class wrapper for this.
class OverridableValue<T>
{
public OverridableValue<T>(Func<T> calculator)
{
_calculator = calculator;
}
private Nullable<T> _t;
private Func<T> _calculator;
public T Get()
{
return return _t ?? _calculator();
}
public void Set(T value)
{
_t = (value != _calculator()) ? value : null;
}
}
It's not so syntactically sweet, but at least saves some keystrokes.
Now you can use it like this:
class Foo
{
OverridableValue<decimal> _excessWages =
new OverridableValue<decimal>(CalculateExcessWages);
public decimal ExcessWages
{
get { return _excessWages.Get(); }
set { _excessWages.Set(value); }
}
...
}
The advantage is that the whole logic is hidden at the class.
You could do this by defining a handy set/get helper method
private static T GetUtil<T>(ref Nullable<T> value, Func<T> calc) {
return value ?? calc();
}
private static void SetUtil<T>(ref Nullable<T> value, T newValue, Func<T> calc) {
if ( newValue != calc() ) {
value = newValue
} else {
value = null;
}
}
private Nullable<decimal> _excessWages;
public decimal ExcessWages
{
get { return GetUtil(ref _excessWages, CalculateExcessWages); }
set { SetUtil(ref _excessWages, value CalculateExcessWages); }
}
That looks reasonable to my eyes. The only change I might make is to cache CalculateExcessWages(), if it is expensive to do, and ok to cache:
private Nullable<decimal> _excessWages;
private Nullable<decimal> _excessWagesCalculated;
public virtual decimal ExcessWages
{
get
{
if (_excessWagesCalculated == null)
_excessWagesCalculated = CalculateExcessWages();
return _excessWages ?? _excessWagesCalculated;
}
set
{
if (_excessWagesCalculated == null)
_excessWagesCalculated = CalculateExcessWages();
if (value != _excessWagesCalculated)
_excessWages = value;
else
_excessWages = null;
}
}
But, this is more code than yours, and I think you are looking to simplify.

Implement a function as []

I have an array which really is a function, however i would like to use it as an array. I know i can write these
int var { get{return v2;} }
public int this[int v] { get { return realArray[v]; }
but how do i implement a function that like an array? i would like to do something like
public int pal[int i] { get { return i*2; } }
But that get a compile error
error CS0650: Bad array declarator: To declare a managed array the rank specifier precedes the variable's identifier. To declare a fixed size buffer field, use the fixed keyword before the field type.
error CS0270: Array size cannot be specified in a variable declaration (try initializing with a 'new' expression)
In C#, the only possible way to declare a parameterized property is an indexer. However, you could simulate something like that by creating a class that provides an indexer and adding a property of that type to your class:
class ParameterizedProperty<TProperty, TIndex> {
private Func<TIndex, TProperty> getter;
private Action<TIndex, TProperty> setter;
public ParameterizedProperty(Func<TIndex, TProperty> getter,
Action<TIndex, TProperty> setter) {
this.getter = getter;
this.setter = setter;
}
public TProperty this[TIndex index] {
get { return getter(index); }
set { setter(index, value); }
}
}
class MyType {
public MyType() {
Prop = new ParameterizedProperty<string, int>(getProp, setProp);
}
public ParameterizedProperty<string, int> Prop { get; private set; }
private string getProp(int index) {
// return the stuff
}
private void setProp(int index, string value) {
// set the stuff
}
}
MyType test = new MyType();
test.Prop[0] = "Hello";
string x = test.Prop[0];
You can extend the idea to read only and write only properties by removing getter or setter from the class as appropriate.
As you noticed, you cannot name an indexer like that, so either:
public int this[int i] { get { return i * 2; } }
Or alternatively if you are really set on naming it pal:
public class Wrapper
{
public int this[int i] { get { return i * 2; } }
}
...
public Wrapper pal { get { return _someWrapperInstance; } }
Which can then be accessed pal[ix], pal[3], etc.
Either you return an array object:
public int[] pal { get { return realArray; } }
or you return an object that has an indexer:
public class ActingAsArray {
private int[] _arr;
public ActingAsArray(int[] arr) { _arr = arr; }
public int this[int v] { get { return _arr[v]; } }
}
public ActingAsArray pal { get { return new ActingAsArray(realArray); } }
You cannot overload (overloadable operators) the bracket operator in C#. The best you can do is implement an indexer, as you have shown. As per the documentation, you must use the this keyword to implement an indexer. Indexers work much like properties, they have a getter and a setter and you can perform just about any function in the getter or setter.
If you don't mind using a bit of VB.Net, it supports parameterized properties (still beats me why it's not possible in C#, as .Net is obviously capable of doing it)
This way you could create your class in VB.Net and just reference the VB.Net DLL in your project.
This could of course get somewhat annoying if your class changes often :-/

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