Custom array index. [c#]

[Markus]

In PHP we can do this to use a custom array index:

$array = array("my_index" => "my_index's value");
 

and access it by:

echo $array['my_index'];
 

I've had a look around, but I can't seem to find a way of doing this in C#.

Is it possible to do that?

[tlhintoq]

I'm not sure what you mean by a 'custom' index. Is this somehow different than a regular array index?

            int myIndex = 2;
            string[] myStringArray = { "Alpha", "Bravo", "Charlie" };
            Console.WriteLine(myStringArray[myIndex]); // Should produce "Charlie" sine arrays are zero indexed
 

[mldisibio]

I think these are called "associative arrays" where the index is named. No, you cannot do that with CLR arrays (out of the box), but you can achieve close to the same with a Hashtable:

Hashtable array = new Hashtable();
array.Add("my_index", "my_index's value");
Console.WriteLine(array["my_index"]);

Also, a generic Dictionary<string, string> and several other collection types will do it.
Another option is to write your own Collection<T> and add a custom Indexer which accepts a string index value instead of the default int.

[Plater]

Yeah, the Dictionary object is your ticket.
If you just want a string index, the NameValueCollection might be more usefull.
Its roughly just Dictionary<string,string>
Dictionary<string,object> is roughly what is used for the Session(and Application) object collection in web applications

[Markus]

Thanks for that, guys.