Question

I am looking for a generic, bidirectional 1 to 1 Dictionary class in C# (2), ie. a BiDictionaryOneToOne<T, S> which is guaranteed to only contain one of each value and key (up to RefEquals anyway), and which can be searched using either key or value. Anyone know of one, or should I just implement it myself? I can’t believe that I’m the first person to need this…

There is a BiDictionary in the answers to this question, but it is not for unique elements (and also does not implement RemoveByFirst(T t) or RemoveBySecond(S s)).

Thanks!

Answer 1

OK, here is my attempt (building on Jon’s – thanks), archived here and open for improvement :

/// <summary> /// This is a dictionary guaranteed to have only one of each value and key.  /// It may be searched either by TFirst or by TSecond, giving a unique answer because it is 1 to 1. /// </summary> /// <typeparam name='TFirst'>The type of the 'key'</typeparam> /// <typeparam name='TSecond'>The type of the 'value'</typeparam> public class BiDictionaryOneToOne<TFirst, TSecond> {     IDictionary<TFirst, TSecond> firstToSecond = new Dictionary<TFirst, TSecond>();     IDictionary<TSecond, TFirst> secondToFirst = new Dictionary<TSecond, TFirst>();      #region Exception throwing methods      /// <summary>     /// Tries to add the pair to the dictionary.     /// Throws an exception if either element is already in the dictionary     /// </summary>     /// <param name='first'></param>     /// <param name='second'></param>     public void Add(TFirst first, TSecond second)     {         if (firstToSecond.ContainsKey(first) || secondToFirst.ContainsKey(second))             throw new ArgumentException('Duplicate first or second');          firstToSecond.Add(first, second);         secondToFirst.Add(second, first);     }      /// <summary>     /// Find the TSecond corresponding to the TFirst first     /// Throws an exception if first is not in the dictionary.     /// </summary>     /// <param name='first'>the key to search for</param>     /// <returns>the value corresponding to first</returns>     public TSecond GetByFirst(TFirst first)     {         TSecond second;         if (!firstToSecond.TryGetValue(first, out second))             throw new ArgumentException('first');          return second;      }      /// <summary>     /// Find the TFirst corresponing to the Second second.     /// Throws an exception if second is not in the dictionary.     /// </summary>     /// <param name='second'>the key to search for</param>     /// <returns>the value corresponding to second</returns>     public TFirst GetBySecond(TSecond second)     {         TFirst first;         if (!secondToFirst.TryGetValue(second, out first))             throw new ArgumentException('second');          return first;      }       /// <summary>     /// Remove the record containing first.     /// If first is not in the dictionary, throws an Exception.     /// </summary>     /// <param name='first'>the key of the record to delete</param>     public void RemoveByFirst(TFirst first)     {         TSecond second;         if (!firstToSecond.TryGetValue(first, out second))             throw new ArgumentException('first');          firstToSecond.Remove(first);         secondToFirst.Remove(second);     }      /// <summary>     /// Remove the record containing second.     /// If second is not in the dictionary, throws an Exception.     /// </summary>     /// <param name='second'>the key of the record to delete</param>     public void RemoveBySecond(TSecond second)     {         TFirst first;         if (!secondToFirst.TryGetValue(second, out first))             throw new ArgumentException('second');          secondToFirst.Remove(second);         firstToSecond.Remove(first);     }      #endregion      #region Try methods      /// <summary>     /// Tries to add the pair to the dictionary.     /// Returns false if either element is already in the dictionary             /// </summary>     /// <param name='first'></param>     /// <param name='second'></param>     /// <returns>true if successfully added, false if either element are already in the dictionary</returns>     public Boolean TryAdd(TFirst first, TSecond second)     {         if (firstToSecond.ContainsKey(first) || secondToFirst.ContainsKey(second))             return false;          firstToSecond.Add(first, second);         secondToFirst.Add(second, first);         return true;     }       /// <summary>     /// Find the TSecond corresponding to the TFirst first.     /// Returns false if first is not in the dictionary.     /// </summary>     /// <param name='first'>the key to search for</param>     /// <param name='second'>the corresponding value</param>     /// <returns>true if first is in the dictionary, false otherwise</returns>     public Boolean TryGetByFirst(TFirst first, out TSecond second)     {         return firstToSecond.TryGetValue(first, out second);     }      /// <summary>     /// Find the TFirst corresponding to the TSecond second.     /// Returns false if second is not in the dictionary.     /// </summary>     /// <param name='second'>the key to search for</param>     /// <param name='first'>the corresponding value</param>     /// <returns>true if second is in the dictionary, false otherwise</returns>     public Boolean TryGetBySecond(TSecond second, out TFirst first)     {         return secondToFirst.TryGetValue(second, out first);     }      /// <summary>     /// Remove the record containing first, if there is one.     /// </summary>     /// <param name='first'></param>     /// <returns> If first is not in the dictionary, returns false, otherwise true</returns>     public Boolean TryRemoveByFirst(TFirst first)     {         TSecond second;         if (!firstToSecond.TryGetValue(first, out second))             return false;          firstToSecond.Remove(first);         secondToFirst.Remove(second);         return true;     }      /// <summary>     /// Remove the record containing second, if there is one.     /// </summary>     /// <param name='second'></param>     /// <returns> If second is not in the dictionary, returns false, otherwise true</returns>     public Boolean TryRemoveBySecond(TSecond second)     {         TFirst first;         if (!secondToFirst.TryGetValue(second, out first))             return false;          secondToFirst.Remove(second);         firstToSecond.Remove(first);         return true;     }      #endregion              /// <summary>     /// The number of pairs stored in the dictionary     /// </summary>     public Int32 Count     {         get { return firstToSecond.Count; }     }      /// <summary>     /// Removes all items from the dictionary.     /// </summary>     public void Clear()     {         firstToSecond.Clear();         secondToFirst.Clear();     } }