C# Core using Dictionary as table

Question

My goal is to use the data I get and put it in a table. Two columns, one called Name and the other called Region. I am pretty new to c# and found that there is a function called datatable that allows you to do that, but with a little research that is not available in c# core (correct me if I'm wrong please). Therefore I found this thing called dictionaries and tried my best:

        Dictionary<string, string> dict = new Dictionary<string, string>();


        foreach (var rGroup in azure.ResourceGroups.List())
        {

          //  dict.Add("Name", rGroup.Name);
          //  dict.Add("Region", rGroup.Region.Name);
            dict.Add(rGroup.Name, "Name");
            dict.Add(rGroup.Region.Name, "Region");

        }
        foreach (var di in dict)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Key = {0}, Value = {1}", di.Key, di.Value);
        }

I get the error

System.ArgumentException occurred HResult=0x80070057 Message=An item with the same key has already been added. Key: northeurope
Source= StackTrace: at System.ThrowHelper.ThrowAddingDuplicateWithKeyArgumentException(Object key) at System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2.Insert(TKey key, TValue value, Boolean add) at AzureAPi.Program.RunSample(IAzure azure) in C:\Users\solar\documents\visual studio 2017\Projects\AzureAPi\AzureAPi\Program.cs:line 44 at AzureAPi.Program.Main(String[] args) in C:\Users\solar\documents\visual studio 2017\Projects\AzureAPi\AzureAPi\Program.cs:line 72

Can someone help me on what I did wrong? In addition, is this the best and simplest way to approach this?

Answer 1

I believe you are adding the items incorrectly

foreach (var rGroup in azure.ResourceGroups.List()) {
    dict[rGroup.Name] = rGroup.Region.Name;
}

You use the group name as the key and the region as the value.

Other than that you can create a strongly typed object to hold your data

public class MyTableName {
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string Region { get; set; }
}

and construct it from the collection.

Note: Using Linq

var data = azure.ResourceGroups.Select(rGroup => new MyTableName {
                                            Name = rGroup.Name,
                                            Region = rGroup.Region.Name
                                       }).List()

foreach (var item in data) {
    Console.WriteLine("Key = {0}, Value = {1}", item.Name, item.Region);
}

You could also use an anonymous type

var data = azure.ResourceGroups.Select(rGroup => new {
                                            Name = rGroup.Name,
                                            Region = rGroup.Region.Name
                                       }).List()

foreach (var item in data) {
    Console.WriteLine("Key = {0}, Value = {1}", item.Name, item.Region);
}

Answer 2

An approach that is close to your idea could be a List of an object that simply contains your region and name of the region.

Create a class like this

public class Region
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string RegionName { get; set; }
}

And replace your Dictionary with Region typed List.

List<Region>