Question

I would like to create an array/collection that contains objects. I would like to be able to access the objects in the array/collection with a key value. I’m thinking the syntax to access the objects would be something like this:

ObjectArray[52].Color = "Blue"
ObjectArray[52].Height = 12.2

If(ObjectArray[52].Color == "Blue")
{
   // Code for Blue
}
If(ObjectArray[52].Height < 13.0)
{
   // Code for height less than 13.
}

class ObjectInArray
{
   public string Color;
   public double Height;
}

“52” in this case is a key value, not a position in the array. Color and Blue are properties in the objects. I do not know how to create an array/collection to do this (if it can be done). Any help or optional suggestion how to do this would be appreciated.

Answer 1

You don’t want an array, you want something which can associate keys of one type with values of another type. Such collection in .Net is called Dictionary<TKey, TValue>, specifically for your case Dictionary<int, ObjectInArray>.

Example:

Dictionary<int, ObjectInArray> ObjectArray = new Dictionary<int, ObjectInArray>();
ObjectArray[52] = new ObjectInArray();

ObjectArray[52].Color = "Blue"
ObjectArray[52].Height = 12.2

if (ObjectArray[52].Color == "Blue")
{
   // Code for Blue
}

if (ObjectArray[52].Height < 13.0)
{
   // Code for height less than 13.
}