CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#classdictionary
Demasterpl
Demasterpl

Reputation: 2133

C# Class that Returns Dictionary with a Custom Object & Multiple Strings Pair

I'm looking to create a class that returns a constructed dictionary. I'm uncertain how I code my constructor to return the dictionary, how to initialize multiple string values that would pair with the key, and the only examples I've found are very rough drafts. Here's a rough example:

namespace MyApp.Helpers
{
    public enum HouseSize
    {
        Big,
        Medium,
        Small
    }
    class Houses
    {
        public static Dictionary<HouseSize, string> _dictionaryOfHouses;

        public static Dictionary<HouseSize, string> Houses
        {
            get
            {
                if (_dictionaryOfHouses == null)
                    LoadHouses();
                return _dictionaryOfHouses;
            }
        }
    }
    private static void LoadHouses()
    {
        _dictionaryOfHouses = new Dictionary<HouseSize, string>;
        _dictionaryOfHouses.Add(HouseSize.Big, /*Add String Properties Here like Red, 2 Floor, Built in 1975*/);
        _dictionaryOfHouses.Add(HouseSize.Small, /*Add String Properties Here like Blue, 1 Floor, Built in 1980*/);
    }
}

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1273

Answers (3)

Bob.
Bob.

Reputation: 4002

Using the existing enumeration for house sizes:

public enum HouseSize {
    Big,
    Medium,
    Small
}

Create a class to describe a House's properties

public class HouseProperties {
    public string Colour { get; set; }
    public int NumFloors { get; set; }
    public int Year { get; set; }
}

// Create a Dictionary of House Sizes
// Use a List<HouseProperties> so you can have multiple houses
// of a house size, that can even have the same colour, number
// of floors and/or year
Dictionary<HouseSize, List<HouseProperties>> HouseDictionary = new Dictionary<HouseSize, List<HouseProperties>>();
// Initialize the House sizes
HouseDictionary.Add(HouseSize.Big, new List<HouseProperties>());
HouseDictionary.Add(HouseSize.Medium, new List<HouseProperties>());
HouseDictionary.Add(HouseSize.Small, new List<HouseProperties>());

// Adding a 2013 one-floor Mahogany Big House to the Dictionary
HouseDictionary[HouseSize.Big].Add(new HouseProperties() {
    Colour = "Mahogany",
    NumFloors = 1,
    Year = 2013
});

Upvotes: 0

Tony Hopkinson
Tony Hopkinson

Reputation: 20320

A couple of things first returning Dictionary can be an issue, IDictionary would be better.

I'd Look at something like

private static void LoadHouses()
    {
        _dictionaryOfHouses = new Dictionary<HouseSize, Dictionary<string,string>;
        houseProperties = new Dictionary<String,String>();
        houseProperties.Add("Colour", "Red");
        // etc
        _dictionaryOfHouses.Add(HouseSize.Big, houseProperties);
    }

If you are feeling brave Dictionary>

now you can type your additional properties

so year built could be an int and Colour and enum..

After its' built then you can access it

with 

Houses[HouseSize.medium]["Colour"]

Upvotes: 0

Cemafor
Cemafor

Reputation: 1653

You could use a List<string> rather then a simple string. Or perhaps another class that holds the properties such as:

class HouseProperties {
    public string Color { get; set; }
    public string YearBuilt { get; set; }  // I assume having these as strings is more
    public string NumFloors { get; set; }  // helpful then storing the number itself
}

Upvotes: 1

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