ReadOnlyCollectionBase.GetEnumerator Method

Definition

Namespace:

System.Collections

Assemblies:

netstandard.dll, System.Collections.NonGeneric.dll

Source:

ReadOnlyCollectionBase.cs

Returns an enumerator that iterates through the ReadOnlyCollectionBase instance.

C#

public virtual System.Collections.IEnumerator GetEnumerator();

Returns

IEnumerator

An IEnumerator for the ReadOnlyCollectionBase instance.

Implements

GetEnumerator()

Examples

The following code example implements the ReadOnlyCollectionBase class.

C#

using System;
using System.Collections;

public class ROCollection : ReadOnlyCollectionBase  {

   public ROCollection( IList sourceList )  {
      InnerList.AddRange( sourceList );
   }

   public Object this[ int index ]  {
      get  {
         return( InnerList[index] );
      }
   }

   public int IndexOf( Object value )  {
      return( InnerList.IndexOf( value ) );
   }

   public bool Contains( Object value )  {
      return( InnerList.Contains( value ) );
   }
}

public class SamplesCollectionBase  {

   public static void Main()  {

      // Create an ArrayList.
      ArrayList myAL = new ArrayList();
      myAL.Add( "red" );
      myAL.Add( "blue" );
      myAL.Add( "yellow" );
      myAL.Add( "green" );
      myAL.Add( "orange" );
      myAL.Add( "purple" );

      // Create a new ROCollection that contains the elements in myAL.
      ROCollection myCol = new ROCollection( myAL );

      // Display the contents of the collection using foreach. This is the preferred method.
      Console.WriteLine( "Contents of the collection (using foreach):" );
      PrintValues1( myCol );

      // Display the contents of the collection using the enumerator.
      Console.WriteLine( "Contents of the collection (using enumerator):" );
      PrintValues2( myCol );

      // Display the contents of the collection using the Count property and the Item property.
      Console.WriteLine( "Contents of the collection (using Count and Item):" );
      PrintIndexAndValues( myCol );

      // Search the collection with Contains and IndexOf.
      Console.WriteLine( "Contains yellow: {0}", myCol.Contains( "yellow" ) );
      Console.WriteLine( "orange is at index {0}.", myCol.IndexOf( "orange" ) );
      Console.WriteLine();
   }

   // Uses the Count property and the Item property.
   public static void PrintIndexAndValues( ROCollection myCol )  {
      for ( int i = 0; i < myCol.Count; i++ )
         Console.WriteLine( "   [{0}]:   {1}", i, myCol[i] );
      Console.WriteLine();
   }

   // Uses the foreach statement which hides the complexity of the enumerator.
   // NOTE: The foreach statement is the preferred way of enumerating the contents of a collection.
   public static void PrintValues1( ROCollection myCol )  {
      foreach ( Object obj in myCol )
         Console.WriteLine( "   {0}", obj );
      Console.WriteLine();
   }

   // Uses the enumerator.
   // NOTE: The foreach statement is the preferred way of enumerating the contents of a collection.
   public static void PrintValues2( ROCollection myCol )  {
      System.Collections.IEnumerator myEnumerator = myCol.GetEnumerator();
      while ( myEnumerator.MoveNext() )
         Console.WriteLine( "   {0}", myEnumerator.Current );
      Console.WriteLine();
   }
}


/*
This code produces the following output.

Contents of the collection (using foreach):
   red
   blue
   yellow
   green
   orange
   purple

Contents of the collection (using enumerator):
   red
   blue
   yellow
   green
   orange
   purple

Contents of the collection (using Count and Item):
   [0]:   red
   [1]:   blue
   [2]:   yellow
   [3]:   green
   [4]:   orange
   [5]:   purple

Contains yellow: True
orange is at index 4.

*/

Remarks

The foreach statement of the C# language (for each in Visual Basic) hides the complexity of the enumerators. Therefore, using foreach is recommended, instead of directly manipulating the enumerator.

Enumerators can be used to read the data in the collection, but they cannot be used to modify the underlying collection.

Initially, the enumerator is positioned before the first element in the collection. Reset also brings the enumerator back to this position. At this position, Current is undefined. Therefore, you must call MoveNext to advance the enumerator to the first element of the collection before reading the value of Current.

Current returns the same object until either MoveNext or Reset is called. MoveNext sets Current to the next element.

If MoveNext passes the end of the collection, the enumerator is positioned after the last element in the collection and MoveNext returns false. When the enumerator is at this position, subsequent calls to MoveNext also return false. If the last call to MoveNext returned false, Current is undefined. To set Current to the first element of the collection again, you can call Reset followed by MoveNext.

An enumerator remains valid as long as the collection remains unchanged. If changes are made to the collection, such as adding, modifying, or deleting elements, the enumerator is irrecoverably invalidated and its behavior is undefined.

The enumerator does not have exclusive access to the collection; therefore, enumerating through a collection is intrinsically not a thread-safe procedure. To guarantee thread safety during enumeration, you can lock the collection during the entire enumeration. To allow the collection to be accessed by multiple threads for reading and writing, you must implement your own synchronization.

This method is an O(1) operation.

Applies to

See also

• IEnumerator