Question

I am new to C#. Here is a hard-coded thing I got working:

InputProperty grantNumber = new InputProperty(); grantNumber.Name = 'udf:Grant Number'; grantNumber.Val = '571-1238';  Update update = new Update(); update.Items = new InputProperty[] { grantNumber }; 

Now I want to generalize this to support an indefinite number of items in the Update object and I came up with this but it fails to compile:

Update update = BuildMetaData(nvc);  //call function to build Update object 

and the function itself here:

private Update BuildMetaData(NameValueCollection nvPairs) {     Update update = new Update();     InputProperty[] metaData;       // declare array of InputProperty objects     int i = 0;     foreach (string key in nvPairs.Keys)     {         metaData[i] = new InputProperty();      // compiler complains on this line         metaData[i].Name = 'udf:' + key;         foreach (string value in nvPairs.GetValues(key))             metaData[i].Val = value;     }     update.Items = metaData;     return update;      // return the Update object } 

Answer 1

Since the size of your Items collection can vary, you should use a collection type like List<T> or Dictionary<K,V> instead of an array.