Question

class infoContact
{ 



    private string contacts_first_nameField;

    private string contacts_middle_nameField;

    private string contacts_last_nameField;        

    private Phonenumber[] phone_numbersField;

    private Emailaddress[] emailField;
}

I have a List<infoContact> The list contains almost 7000 which I get from some other program. In the list out of 7000, 6500 are duplicates. I am looking for a way how to eliminate duplicates.

A infoContact is duplicate if first_name, last_name, emailaddresses, phone numbers are same.

I thought of using a HashSet<infoContact> and override getHashCode() of infoContact.

I am just curious to know if that is the best way to do. If this is not a good way what is the better way?

Answer 1

Firstly think of extracting the unique values. You could use the Distinct() Linq method with a comparer like:

public class infoContactComparer : IEqualityComparer<infoContact>
{
    public bool Equals(infoContact x, infoContact y)
    {
        return x.contacts_first_nameField == y.contacts_first_nameField
            && x.contacts_last_nameField == y.contacts_last_nameField
            && ...
    }

    public int GetHashCode(infoContact obj)
    {
        return obj.contacts_first_nameField.GetHashCode();
    }
}