Returning a match from a List<KeyValuePair<string,string>>

Question

I currently have a class that uses the KeyValuePair with List to store a collection of tracks in the format of Key = track, Value = artist.

I'm trying to provide a way of searching for a particular track and if there are any matches then return the entire matching CD.

This is my attempt so far:

public CompilationCD FindTrackInComCD(string track)
{
    CompilationCD temp = new CompilationCD();

    List<CD> tempComCols = _cdCollection.FindAll(delegate(CD cd)
    { return cd.GetType() == temp.GetType(); });

    foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> comCD in tempComCols)
    {
        if (comCD.Key.Contains(track))
        {
            return comCD;
        }
    }

    throw new ArgumentException("No matches found");
}

I have a collection of Cd's of type CD (List<CD>) therefore I create a new List<> of the appropiate type by comparing it to the temp List.

When compiling I get the following errors:

Cannot convert type 'CDCollection.CD' to System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair<string,string>'

Cannot implicitly convert type 'System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair<string,string>'

(CDCollection is my project namespace and CD/CompilationCD are the classes)

Sorry for this seeming like a similar question to one I've previously asked. I tried to use the methods I was given before but I'm a bit stumped; I've not used List<> or KeyValuePair very often.

This is the CD Class:

using System;

using System.Collections; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text;

namespace CDCollection { public class CD { #region Fields private readonly string _artist; private readonly string _album; private List _track = new List(); #endregion

    #region Constructors
    public CD()
    {
        _artist = "";
        _album = "";
        _track = null;
    }

    public CD(string albumName)
    {
        _album = albumName;
    }

    public CD(string artistName, string albumName)
    {
        _artist = artistName;
        _album = albumName;
    }

    #endregion

    #region Properties
    /// <summary>
    /// Get/Set Artist Name
    /// </summary>
    public virtual string Artist
    {
        get
        {
            return _artist;
        }
        set
        {
            value = _artist;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Get/Set Album
    /// </summary>
    public string Album
    {
        get
        {
            return _album;
        }
        set
        {
            value = _album;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Get/Set Track Name
    /// </summary>
    public virtual List<string> Track
    {
        get
        {
            return _track;
        }
        set
        {
            value = _track;
        }
    }

    #endregion

    #region ToString()
    /// <summary>
    /// Custom ToString() Method
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public override string ToString()
    {
        //Create new StringBuilder object
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

        sb.Append("Artist Name");

        //Display error if Artist is not available
        if (_artist == null || _artist == "")
        {
            sb.Append("\nNo Artist Entered");
        }
        else
        {
            sb.Append("\n" + this._artist);
        }

        sb.Append("\n");
        sb.Append("\nAlbum Name");

        //Display error if Album is not available
        if (_album == null || _album == "")
        {
            sb.Append("\nNo Album Entered");
        }
        else
        {
            sb.Append("\n" + this._album);
        }

        sb.Append("\n");
        sb.Append("\nTrack Name");
        sb.Append("\n");

        //Iterate through all tracks stored in list
        foreach (string trackName in _track)
        {
            //Print each artist
            sb.Append("\n" + trackName);
        }

        sb.Append("\nEnd of CD Record.........");

        return sb.ToString();
    }

    #endregion
}

}

This is the CompilationCD class:

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text;

namespace CDCollection { public class CompilationCD : CD { #region Fields

    private readonly string _artist;
    private readonly string _album;
    private List<KeyValuePair<string,string>> _tracks = new List<KeyValuePair<string,string>>();

    //List<KeyValuePair> Reference.
    //http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/6sh2ey19(VS.85).aspx

    #endregion

    #region Constructors

    public CompilationCD()
    {
        _album = "";
        _artist = "Various Artists";
    }

    public CompilationCD(string albumName):base(albumName)
    {
        _album = albumName;
        _artist = "Various Artists";
    }

    #endregion

    public void AddTracks(string track, string artist)
    {
        _tracks.Add(new KeyValuePair<string, string>(track, artist));
    }

    #region Properties

    public override string Artist
    {
        get
        {
            return this._artist;
        }
    }

    public new List<KeyValuePair<string,string>> Track
    {
        get
        {
            return _tracks;
        }
        set
        {
            _tracks = value;
        }
    }


    #endregion

    #region ToString()

    //TEST
    public override string ToString()
    {
        //Create new StringBuilder object
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

        sb.Append("Artist Name");

        //Display error if Artist is not available
        if (_artist == null || _artist == "")
        {
            sb.Append("\nNo Artist Entered");
        }
        else
        {
            sb.Append("\n" + this._artist);
        }

        sb.Append("\n");
        sb.Append("\nAlbum Name");

        //Display error if Album is not available
        if (base.Album == null || base.Album == "")
        {
            sb.Append("\nNo Album Entered");
        }
        else
        {
            sb.Append("\n" + base.Album);
        }

        sb.Append("\n");
        sb.Append("\nTrack Name");
        sb.Append("\n");

        ////Iterate through all tracks stored in list
        //foreach (string trackName in base.Track)
        //{
        //    //Print each artist
        //    sb.Append("\n" + trackName);
        //}

        for(int i = 0; i <= _tracks.Count; i++)
        {
            string track = _tracks[i].Key;
            string artist = _tracks[i].Value;

            sb.Append("\nTrack");
            sb.Append(track);
            sb.Append("\nArtist");
            sb.Append(artist);
        }

        sb.Append("\nEnd of Compilation CD Record.........");

        return sb.ToString();
    }

    #endregion
}

}

I have strict rules that mean i have to inherit from CD to create my CompilationCD as well as using a List> for my track collection, it needs to hold both a track and artist. Crazy i know =/

Furthermore i must store ALL types of cd in a list of type CD ( List ).

Answer 1

The problem is in your foreach loop. tempComCols is a List<CD>, but comCD is a KeyValuePair<string, string>. So, your loop results in an invalid type conversion.

Unfortunately, since we don't know what the CD class (interface?) looks like, I can't suggest a fix in terms of its properties.

EDIT: The following is perhaps a better version of your method (though, I haven't debugged it correctly):

public CompilationCD FindTrackInComCD(string track)
{
    CompilationCD temp = new CompilationCD();

    temp = _cdCollection.Where(cd => cd is CompilationCD)
                        .Cast<CompilationCD>()
                        .Where(com_cd => com_cd.Tracks.ContainsKey(track))
                        .FirstOrDefault();

    if (temp != null)
        return temp;
    else throw new ArgumentException("No matches found");
}

You can't cast a CompilationCD to a KeyValuePair<string, string>, so we just use the CompilationCD class directly. We can pass off the responsibility for searching the track list to the IEnumerable<T> extenion methods provided by System.Linq, which makes this method very easy.

Answer 2

Why not use a dictionary? They are a list of key value pairs, but provide easy access via the key.

Answer 3

that's because tempComCols will return CD and not KeyValuePair<string, string>

Answer 4

Your List doesn't contain KeyValuePairs, so you can't loop through it as if it did. Try something like this:

foreach (CD comCD in tempComCols)
{
    if (comCD.MyKeyValueProp.Key.Contains(track))
    {
        return comCD;
    }
}

But as McKay said, if your CD class does nothing but encapsulate a KeyValuePair, a Dictionary would be much easier.

Answer 5

tempComCols is list of CD items: List<CD> tempComCols ... and you want to iterate over something that is of type IEnumerable: foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> comCD in tempComCols)

Answer 6

You are enumerating a List<CD> and assigning to a KeyValuePair<string, string>.

You can rewrite your method using LINQ in C# 3 like this:

public CompilationCD FindTrackInComCD(string track) {
    return _cdCollection.OfType<CompilationCD>().FirstOrDefault(cd => cd.Name.Contains(track, StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase));
}

By the way, you can get the System.Type object for CompilationCD by writing typeof(CompilationCD); you don't need to call GetType().

Answer 7

Use KeyedCollection http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms132438.aspx

Answer 8

1. you can use:

   {cd is CompilationCD};
   

   instead of

   { return cd.GetType() == temp.GetType(); });
   

2. if I understand correctly and CD is some sort of Dictionary, you can rewrite the function as:

   public CompilationCD FindTrackInComCD(string track)
   {
       return (CompilationCD)_cdCollection.Find(delegate(CD cd)
       { return (cd is CompilationCD) && (cd.Contains(track))});
   }