Question

Given the the code below:

public class Item
{
    private int _id;
    private int _order;
    private string _name;

    public int Id
    {
        get { return _id; }
        set { _id = value; }
    }

    public int Order
    {
        get { return _order; }
        set { _order = value; }
    }

    public string Name
    {
        get { return _name; }
        set { _name = value; }
    }

    public static IList<Item> InitList1()
    {
        var list = new List<Item>
        {
            new Item { Id = 1, Order = 1, Name = "Alpha" },
            new Item { Id = 2, Order = 2, Name = "Bravo" },
            new Item { Id = 3, Order = 3, Name = "Charlie" },
            new Item { Id = 4, Order = 4, Name = "Delta" }
        };

        return list;
    }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Initialize the lists
        IList<Item> list1 = Item.InitList1();
        IList<Item> list2 = list1.ToList();
        IList<Item> list3 = new List<Item>(list1);

        // Modify list2
        foreach (Item item in list2)
            item.Order++;

        // Modify list3
        foreach (Item item in list3)
            item.Order++;

        // Output the lists
        Console.WriteLine(string.Format("\nList1\n====================="));
        foreach (Item item in list1)
            Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Item - id: {0} order: {1} name: {2}", item.Id, item.Order, item.Name));

        Console.WriteLine(string.Format("\nList2\n====================="));
        foreach (Item item in list2)
            Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Item - id: {0} order: {1} name: {2}", item.Id, item.Order, item.Name));

        Console.WriteLine(string.Format("\nList3\n====================="));
        foreach (Item item in list3)
            Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Item - id: {0} order: {1} name: {2}", item.Id, item.Order, item.Name));

        Console.Write("\nAny key to exit...");
        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}

The output will be:

List1
=====================
Item - id: 1 order: 3 name: Alpha
Item - id: 2 order: 4 name: Bravo
Item - id: 3 order: 5 name: Charlie
Item - id: 4 order: 6 name: Delta


List2
=====================
Item - id: 1 order: 3 name: Alpha
Item - id: 2 order: 4 name: Bravo
Item - id: 3 order: 5 name: Charlie
Item - id: 4 order: 6 name: Delta

List3
=====================
Item - id: 1 order: 3 name: Alpha
Item - id: 2 order: 4 name: Bravo
Item - id: 3 order: 5 name: Charlie
Item - id: 4 order: 6 name: Delta

Any key to exit...

Can someone please explain to me:

1. Why after creating the new lists (list2 and list3) that the actions on those lists affects list1 (and subsequently the two other lists)? and

2. How I can create a new instance of list1 and modify it without affecting list1?

Answer 1

You’ve effectively got a “shallow copy”. That yes, the lists are copied, but they still point to the original items.

Think of it like this. A list doesn’t actually contain the items it contains, instead it has a reference to it. So, when you copy your list the new list just contains a reference to the original item. What you need is something like this

IList newlist = new List<Item>();
foreach(item anItem in myList)
{
     newList.Add(item.ReturnCopy());
}

where return copy looks something like this:

public Item ReturnCopy()
{
    Item newItem = new Item();

    newItem._id = _id;
    newItem._order = _order;
    newItem._name = _name;
    return newItem

}

That will copy all the data from the item, but leave the original intact. There are loads of patterns and interfaces that can offer better implementations, but I just wanted to give you a flavour of how it works.