Question

I have a text file which I parse and load parsed results into a collection. I have completed the parsing and have loaded the results into a collection object.

public class Results
{
  List<Node> nodes = new List<Node>();

}
public class Node
{
  public int id {get;set;}
  public DateTime initiationDateTime {get;set;}
}

The next step is to iterate through each list item and if the timestamp difference is more than 30 minutes from the previous minimum date/time then it will be stored as a user selection. for instance from the following recordset the users will view the following choices in the form of checboxes. All I am trying to figure out is how to form the user selection list. Once I show the user selection list to the user, they will re-post the page with their selections and based on the date ranges I will process the records within a selected date range.

User Choices:
1/12/2012 10:09 -  1/12/2012 10:49 
1/12/2012 13:25 -  1/12/2012 13:26
1/12/2012 15:30

    Parsed List:

ID    Test Initiation       InitiationChoice    CompletionChoice
1       1/12/2012 10:09           Yes              
2       1/12/2012 10:09
3       1/12/2012 10:09
4       1/12/2012 10:09
5       1/12/2012 10:09
6       1/12/2012 10:09
7       1/12/2012 10:48
8       1/12/2012 10:48
9       1/12/2012 10:49
10      1/12/2012 10:49
11      1/12/2012 10:49
12      1/12/2012 10:49                               Yes
13      1/12/2012 13:25           Yes
14      1/12/2012 13:25
15      1/12/2012 13:25
16      1/12/2012 13:25
17      1/12/2012 13:26
18      1/12/2012 13:26                                 Yes
19      1/12/2012 15:30           Yes

The following is my attempt to create the users choices, Would appreciate suggestions on this

        //First Minimum Date to start as i have already sorted this list based on date.
        minimumDateTime = lf.Nodes.ElementAt(0).InitiationDate; 

        foreach (Node rb in lf.Nodes)
        {
            TimeSpan intervalMinutes = rb.InitiationDate.Subtract(minimumDateTime);
            UserConfirmationErrors confirmationRun = new UserConfirmationErrors();

            if (intervalMinutes.TotalMinutes >= 30)
            {
                //New Minimum Date/Time
                minimumDateTime = rb.InitiationDate;
            }

        }

Answer 1

I’d do this:

• create a collection, such as List<DateTime> minDates
• push new min dates into collection
• convert your collection into a List<SelectListItem>
• on postback, the value will be the min date (not the range). You know that given a min date you can always find the range: just add 30 minutes.

Thus, my pseudo example looks like this:

    minimumDateTime = DateTime.Min; // don't force to first record.. let loop do it
    var minDates = new List<DateTime>();

    foreach (Node rb in lf.Nodes)
    {
        TimeSpan intervalMinutes = rb.InitiationDate.Subtract(minimumDateTime);
        UserConfirmationErrors confirmationRun = new UserConfirmationErrors();

        if (intervalMinutes.TotalMinutes >= 30)
        {
            //New Minimum Date/Time
            minimumDateTime = rb.InitiationDate;
            minDates.Add(minimumDateTime); // add to new collection
        }

    }

// now loop your minDates to create your select list
var items = new List<SelectListItem>();
foreach(var minDate in minDates)
{
  var item = new SelectListItem() { Value = minDate.ToString(), Text = String.Format("{0} - {1}", minDate, minDate.AddMinutes(30) };

  items.add(items);
}

// now items is your collection that you can bind your select list to...