Question

i have this problem: starting from an empty list (0 elements) i want check if an element is present or not present in this list. In case this record not is present in list then i add this record to list, otherwise update element in list.
I have tried writing this code:

program Project1;

{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

{$R *.res}

uses
  System.SysUtils, System.Generics.Collections, System.Generics.Defaults;

type
  TDBStats = record
    Comb: Integer;
    Freq: Integer;
  end;
  TDBStatsList = TList<TDBStats>;

procedure Add(ODBStats: TDBStatsList; const Item: TDBStats);
var
  rItem: TDBStats;
begin
  rItem := Item;
  rItem.Freq := 1;
  oDBStats.Add(rItem);
end;

procedure Update(ODBStats: TDBStatsList; const Item: TDBStats; const Index: Integer);
var
  rItem: TDBStats;
begin
  rItem := Item;
  Inc(rItem.Freq);
  oDBStats[Index] := rItem;
end;


var
  oDBStats: TDBStatsList;
  rDBStats: TDBStats;
  myArr: array [0..4] of integer;
  iIndex1: Integer;
begin
  try
    myArr[0] := 10;
    myArr[1] := 20;
    myArr[2] := 30;
    myArr[3] := 40;
    myArr[4] := 10;

    oDBStats := TList<TDBStats>.Create;
    try
      for iIndex1 := 0 to 4 do
      begin
        rDBStats.Comb := myArr[iIndex1];
        if oDBStats.Contains(rDBStats) then
          Update(oDBStats, rDBStats, oDBStats.IndexOf(rDBStats))
        else
          Add(oDBStats, rDBStats);
      end;
      // Check List
      for iIndex1 := 0 to Pred(oDBStats.Count) do
        Writeln(oDBStats[iIndex1].Comb:3, oDBStats[iIndex1].Freq:10);
    finally
      oDBStats.Free;
    end;

  except
    on E: Exception do
      Writeln(E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message);
  end;
  Readln;
end.

and should return this result:

10     2
20     1
30     1
40     1
50     1

but return this result:

10     1
20     1
30     1
40     1
50     1
10     1

I have understood about problem: when i use oDBStats.Contains(rDBStats) it control if rDBStats element is contained in list; the first time not found it and add in list; but when it is added in list i update freq field to 1; so second time when i check again being rdbstats with freq = 0 not found it.
As i can solve this problem? I need to have a counter, where i get from input a “comb” and i want check if this “comb” is present in list, indipendetely from value of the other field of the record. In case i find “comb” in list, then i update, increasing freq field.
Thanks for help.

Answer 1

When you call Contains on a generic list, it looks if the given value is already inside the list. The value in your case is a record which consists of two fields. As you didn’t specify a custom comparer, Delphi will use a default comparer which in case of a record does a binary compare. So only when two records are binary equal they will be treated as equal.

To make your example work you have to specify a custom comparer that compares only the comb field of the records. This is an example:

oDBStats := TList<TDBStats>.Create(TDelegatedComparer<TDBStats>.Create(
 function(const Left, Right: TDBStats): Integer
 begin
   result := CompareValue(Left.comb, Right.comb);
 end));

In addition you have an error in your update routine. Instead of incrementing the existing value, you are incrementing the undefined value of the item parameter. The change in the first line should make it work:

  rItem := oDBStats[Index];
  Inc(rItem.Freq);
  oDBStats[Index] := rItem;