Creating a "backup" of a Dictionary

[JamesB]

I have a config screen in my app that updates a dictionary<key, value>.

I want to store a copy of this before going into the config screen so if the
user wants to cancel all their changes I can simply set the working copies
to be the backup.

So, in my code, before the config screen is shown, I do this:

Dictionary<stri ng, myClassTempDic = MainDic;

But when the config screen returns from the showdialog, and the "main"
dictionary has been added to, the temp one has also been added to?
How can I create a copy that doesn't change? Bit confused!

[Peter Duniho]

JamesB wrote:

I have a config screen in my app that updates a dictionary<key, value>.

I want to store a copy of this before going into the config screen so if
the user wants to cancel all their changes I can simply set the working
copies to be the backup.

So, in my code, before the config screen is shown, I do this:

Dictionary<stri ng, myClassTempDic = MainDic;

But when the config screen returns from the showdialog, and the "main"
dictionary has been added to, the temp one has also been added to?
How can I create a copy that doesn't change? Bit confused!

All that the line you posted does is copy the _reference_ from one
variable to another. The reference refers to the same instance of the
Dictionary<>.

What you need is a method that will create a whole new instance of the
Dictionary<>. I don't believe this is built into the Dictionary<clas s
(some classes implement ICloneable, but Dictionary<does n't), but you
can easily do it yourself using the generic ICollection<>.C opyTo() method:

Dictionary<stri ng, myClassClone(Di ctionary<string , myClassdict)
{
KeyValuePair<st ring, myClass>[] rgkvp =
new KeyValuePair<st ring, myClass>(dict.C ount);
Dictionary<stri ng, myClassdictNew = new Dictionary<stri ng,
myClass>(dict.C ount);

dict.CopyTo(rgk vp, 0);

foreach (KeyValuePair<s tring, myClasskvp in rgkvp)
{
dictNew.Add(kvp .Key, kvp.Value);
}

return dictNew;
}

Hope that helps.

Pete

[JamesB]

"Peter Duniho" <Np*********@Nn OwSlPiAnMk.comw rote in message
news:13******** *****@corp.supe rnews.com...

JamesB wrote:

>I have a config screen in my app that updates a dictionary<key, value>.

I want to store a copy of this before going into the config screen so if
the user wants to cancel all their changes I can simply set the working
copies to be the backup.

So, in my code, before the config screen is shown, I do this:

Dictionary<str ing, myClassTempDic = MainDic;

But when the config screen returns from the showdialog, and the "main"
dictionary has been added to, the temp one has also been added to?
How can I create a copy that doesn't change? Bit confused!

All that the line you posted does is copy the _reference_ from one
variable to another. The reference refers to the same instance of the
Dictionary<>.

What you need is a method that will create a whole new instance of the
Dictionary<>. I don't believe this is built into the Dictionary<clas s
(some classes implement ICloneable, but Dictionary<does n't), but you can
easily do it yourself using the generic ICollection<>.C opyTo() method:

Dictionary<stri ng, myClassClone(Di ctionary<string , myClassdict)
{
KeyValuePair<st ring, myClass>[] rgkvp =
new KeyValuePair<st ring, myClass>(dict.C ount);
Dictionary<stri ng, myClassdictNew = new Dictionary<stri ng,
myClass>(dict.C ount);

dict.CopyTo(rgk vp, 0);

foreach (KeyValuePair<s tring, myClasskvp in rgkvp)
{
dictNew.Add(kvp .Key, kvp.Value);
}

return dictNew;
}

Hope that helps.

Pete

Thanks Pete,
Your explanation made complete sense however I couldn't get your code sample
working straight off- firstly the (dict.count) in the first line needed to
be [dict.count] to init the array size I guess, but then it still failed as
"dict" doesn't contain a definition for CopyTo.

I had a play around and came up with a cut down version that seems to work
fine though, so many thanks for your help as it got me in the right
direction!

My Clone method:

Dictionary<stri ng, myClassClone(Di ctionary<string , myClassdict)
{
Dictionary<stri ng, myClassdictNew = new
Dictionary<stri ng,myClass>();

foreach (KeyValuePair<s tring, myClasskvp in dict)
{
dictNew.Add(kvp .Key, kvp.Value);
}

return dictNew;
}

[Peter Duniho]

JamesB wrote:

Your explanation made complete sense however I couldn't get your code
sample working straight off- firstly the (dict.count) in the first line
needed to be [dict.count] to init the array size I guess, but then it
still failed as "dict" doesn't contain a definition for CopyTo.

Yeah, sorry. That's what happens when the code is just typed in to the
newsreader. No compiler to help me catch little mistakes like that. :)

The paren-versus-brace issue is obvious and easy to fix, as you have.

The CopyTo() method is actually from the ICollection<int erface and is
explicitly implemented, so you have to cast to an ICollection<to use
it. However, as you've already discovered, doing the copy is
superfluous since you can just get the KeyValuePairs<d irectly from the
Dictionary<itse lf.

Not sure why I thought the CopyTo() was necessary, but your Clone()
method is fine. :)

Pete