CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#wpfstringienumerable
dantdj
dantdj

Reputation: 1267

How to store an IEnumerable and a string that describes it together

The IEnumerable in question is a list of an object containing filenames and properties relating to those file names, and the string is a directory name, such as "C:\Test\Testing". My goal is to store these two pieces of data together so that they're 'linked', in a sense, which should make them easier to use together, as the IEnumerable will become the source for a DataGrid, and the string the text of a label stating the current directory.

How would I go about achieving this? I initially thought of a dictionary, but that doesn't seem to work here. I need to be able to grab the 'top-most' item, so to speak, whenever a button is pressed, and dictionaries are, I believe, unordered.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 950

Answers (2)

Alex
Alex

Reputation: 7919

While the accepted answer works, I would recommend creating a class for this, rather than using a KeyValuePair:

public class FilesInDirectory
{
    public string Directory { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<string> FileNames { get; set; }
}

In OOP you should strive to avoid primitive obsession. A KeyValuePair is a kind of primitive, as it doesn't convey any meaning and can't be extended.

  • Meaning: When you're iterating over the list and dealing with item.Key and then iterating over item.Value, things will get confusing - far less so than item.Directory and item.FileNames
  • Extension: You will want to define some methods that extract data from these items, or process them in some way - usually, these methods are better off on the data item itself. For example you might want to get a list of actual file objects. With a KeyValuePair, you will have to define that method on some other class, whereas it actually fits right at home on FilesInDirectory.GetFiles()

Upvotes: 2

Simon Farshid
Simon Farshid

Reputation: 2696

How about a List<KeyValuePair<IEnumerable, string>>? 

var list = new List<KeyValuePair<IEnumerable, string>>();
list.Add(new KeyValuePair<IEnumerable, string>(data, path));

If that sounds too awkward for you, feel free to use a custom class instead.

Feel free to use a Queue<>, Stack<> or anything else that fits your needs, KeyValuePair can be used with any collection type.

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions