CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#winforms.net-3.5collectionsdictionary
Bohn
Bohn

Reputation: 26919

What is a data stucture to store this type of data

For example I have four spreadsheets and I want to store something like this: 

Rows 1,2,3 from spread1, 
Rows 1,2 from spread2,  
Rows 3,4 from spread3, 
Row 3 from spread4

I thought I should use a Dictionary<> but MSDN says the Key Should be uniqe. so what is a correct way of doing this?

P.S: I am using .NET 3.5, cannot use Tuple. Thanks

Upvotes: 0

Views: 101

Answers (3)

sll
sll

Reputation: 62514

Quick and straigtforward solution:

IDictionary<string, IList<int>> map = new Dictionary<string, IList<int>>
{
   { "spread1", new List<int> { 1, 2, 3 } },
   { "spread2", new List<int> { 1, 2 } },
   { "spread3", new List<int> { 3, 4 } },
   { "spread5", new List<int> { 3 } }
}

If you need some kind of flexibility - abstract spreads and related rows by a custom classes like suggested by others.

Upvotes: 1

driis
driis

Reputation: 164301

It sounds like a list of lists to me, List<List<T>>. It would probably be nice to wrap it in a custom class to give you the semantics you want (if not, it can get complicated to remember what's in which list, etc; and perhaps you want some additional metadata on each sublist).

Upvotes: 1

Mark Byers
Mark Byers

Reputation: 838376

Make a custom class and use that as your key. Include all the fields you need to create a unique key (spreadsheet name and list of rows) then override Equals and GetHashCode appropriately.

Upvotes: 2

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