Question

I’m new to c# and need help with lists and objects.

Severe edit as suggested..

what I really want to do is

List<Item> MyList = new List<Item>();

Item MyItem = new Item();

MyItem.Colour = "red";
MyList.Add(MyItem);
MyItem.Colour = "blue";
MyList.Add(MyItem);
MyItem.Colour = "white";
MyList.Add(MyItem);

And my list will now contain 3 elements – red, blue, white.

I think I can do this by:

Item MyItem = new Item();

MyItem.Colour = "red";
MyList.Add(MyItem);

MyIten = new Item();
MyItem.Colour = "blue";

MyItem = new Item();
MyList.Add(MyItem);

MyItem = new Item();
MyItem.Colour = "white";
MyList.Add(MyItem);

Again, this is simplified. With my real data there are a lot more elements.

I’ll try that out;

TIA – Andrew

Answer 1

Based on your description, I’m guessing you have a scoping problem. Your code should look something like this… pay particular attention to where each variable is set. Also, with these types of scenarios it is often helpful to create a static factory method called Parse that constructs the object from a string.

string line;
System.IO.StreamReader file = new System.IO.StreamReader(filename);

Job myJob = null;
Detail myDetail = null;
while((line = file.ReadLine()) != null)
{
    var lineType = getLineType(line);
    switch(lineType){
        case Job:
           myJob = new Job();
           break;
        case newDetail:
           if(myDetail != null)
           {
               myJob.Details.Add(myDetail); 
           }
           Detail myDetail = new Detail();
           break;
        case continueDetail:
           //set some detail properties
           break;
   }

}

One more time

List<Item> MyList = new List<Item>();
Item MyItem = new Item();
MyItem.Colour = "red";
MyList.Add(MyItem);
MyItem = new Item(); //<-- this is what you are missing
MyItem.Colour = "blue";
MyList.Add(MyItem);

HTH, but your question is a bit unclear.