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List to Dictionary and back again

I have read many posts about dictionaries and serialization etc. and they all have different ways of doing things.
Being new to coding (to an extent) I am having trouble figuring out how to get my dictionary to a list or serialized to get it saved then reloaded on play. This is Unity BTW.
So here is what I am using.
I have an application manager that is mainly just a set of BOOL values that tells my mission system if something has been completed or not. Something like "GetWeapon FALSE" (then when they pick it up it changes to TRUE which tells the mission system to move to the next objective or complete)
So I have a starting list of keys,values...these then get placed into a dictionary and the values are changed within that.
I need to be able to save those values and reload them on LOAD (default PLAY mode is newgame--as you see below it resets the dictionary and copies in the starting states). I know it can't be as difficult as I am making it, just not understanding the whole serialize thing.
Most sites are showing a dictionary like {key,value} so I am getting lost on iterating through the dictionary and capturing the pairs and saving them.
Here is partial code for the appmanager (it is a singleton):
// This holds any states you wish set at game startup
[SerializeField] private List<GameState> _startingGameStates = new List<GameState>();
// Used to store the key/values pairs in the above list in a more efficient dictionary
private Dictionary<string, string> _gameStateDictionary = new Dictionary<string, string>();
void Awake()
{
// This object must live for the entire application
DontDestroyOnLoad(gameObject);
ResetGameStates();
}
void ResetGameStates()
{
_gameStateDictionary.Clear();
// Copy starting game states into game state dictionary
for (int i = 0; i < _startingGameStates.Count; i++)
{
GameState gs = _startingGameStates[i];
_gameStateDictionary[gs.Key] = gs.Value;
}
OnStateChanged.Invoke();
}
public GameState GetStartingGameState(string key)
{
for (int i = 0; i < _startingGameStates.Count; i++)
{
if (_startingGameStates[i] != null && _startingGameStates[i].Key.Equals(key))
return _startingGameStates[i];
}
return null;
}
// Name : SetGameState
// Desc : Sets a Game State
public bool SetGameState(string key, string value)
{
if (key == null || value == null) return false;
_gameStateDictionary[key] = value;
OnStateChanged.Invoke();
return true;
}
Tried something similar to this:
Dictionary<string, string> _gameStateDictionary = new Dictionary<string, string>
{
for (int i = 0; i < _gameStateDictionary.Count; i++)
string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(_gameStateDictionary, Formatting.Indented);
Debug.Log(json);
{
}
However all I got was the first item in the list. (I did modify the above in a for loop) I know the above is wrong, I did other iterations to just to get the dictionary to print out in the console.
Anyway, just asking for a little code help to save and load a dictionary.

Since you want to save and load those persistent anyway, personally I would not use the Inspector and bother with Unity serialization at all but rather directly serialize/deserialize from and to json.
Simply place your default dictionary as a simple json file like e.g.
{
"Key1" : "Value1",
"Key2" : "Value2",
"Key3" : "Value3",
...
}
within the folder Assets/StreamingAssets (create it if it doesn't exists). This will be your default fallback file if none exists so far.
On runtime you will load it from Application.streamingAssetsPath.
Then when saving you will not put it there but rather to the Application.persistentDataPath
using Newtonsoft.Json;
...
[SerializeField] private string fileName = "example.json";
private string defaultStatesPath => Path.Combine(Application.streamingAssetsPath, fileName);
private string persistentStatesPath => Path.Combine(Application.persistentDataPath, fileName);
private Dictionary<string, string> _gameStateDictionary
public void Load()
{
var filePath = persistentStatesPath;
if(!File.Exists(filePath))
{
filePath = defaultStatesPath;
}
var json = File.ReadAllText(filePath);
_gameStateDictionary = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, string>>(json);
}
public void Save()
{
var filePath = persistentStatesPath;
if(!Directory.Exists(Application.persistentDataPath))
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(Application.persistentDataPath);
}
var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(_gameStateDictionary, Formatting.intended);
File.WriteAllText(filePath, json);
}
If you then still want to edit the default via the Inspector you could merge both and instead of using StreamingAssets do
[SerializeField] private GameState[] defaultStates;
public void Load()
{
var filePath = persistentStatesPath;
if(!File.Exists(filePath))
{
LoadDefaults();
return;
}
var json = File.ReadAllText(filePath);
_gameStateDictionary = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, string>>(json);
}
public void LoadDefaults()
{
_gameStateDictionary = defaultStates.ToDictionary(gameState => gameState.Key, gameState => gameState.Value);
}
And then btw you could do
public string GetState(string key, string fallbackValue = "")
{
if(_gameStateDictionary.TryGetValue(key, out var value))
{
return value;
}
return fallbackValue;
}

You can iterate the dictionary by using its Keys collection.
foreach (var key in myDictionary.Keys)
{
var val = myDictionary[key];
}
Populate your data structure with the key/value pairs and serialize the list of items.
var missionItems = new List<MissionItem>();
foreach (var key in myDictionary.Keys)
{
var missionItem = new MissionItem();
missionItem.Key = key;
missionItem.Value = myDictionary[key];
missionItems.Add(missionItem);
}
var json = JsonUtility.ToJson(missionItems);
Loading is straight forward, deserialize your data, then loop through all the items and add each one to the empty dicitionary.
var missionItems = JsonUtility.FromJson<List<MissionItem>>(json);
foreach (var item in missionItems)
{
myDictionary.Add(item.Key, item.Value);
}

Here is my final setup.
I call these on button press in another script (the UI pause menu save/load buttons)
private bool useEncryption = true;
private string encryptionCodeWord = "CodeWordHere";
private static string fileName = "name.json";
private static string defaultStatesPath => Path.Combine(Application.streamingAssetsPath, fileName);
private static string persistentStatesPath => Path.Combine(Application.persistentDataPath, fileName);
public void SaveStates(int slotIndex)
{
var filePath = persistentStatesPath;
if(!Directory.Exists(Application.persistentDataPath))
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(Application.persistentDataPath);
}
var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(_gameStateDictionary, Formatting.Indented);
if (useEncryption)
{
Debug.Log("Using Encryption");
json = EncryptDecrypt(json);
}
File.WriteAllText(filePath + slotIndex, json);
}
public void LoadStates(int SlotIndex)
{
var filePath = persistentStatesPath;
if(!File.Exists(filePath + SlotIndex))
{
filePath = defaultStatesPath;
}
var json = File.ReadAllText(filePath + SlotIndex);
if (useEncryption)
{
Debug.Log("Using Encryption");
json = EncryptDecrypt(json);
}
_gameStateDictionary = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, string>>(json);
}
private string EncryptDecrypt(string data)
{
string modifiedData = "";
for (int i = 0; i < data.Length; i++)
{
modifiedData += (char)(data[i] ^ encryptionCodeWord[i % encryptionCodeWord.Length]);
}
return modifiedData;
}

Impossible to cast void in List C#

I'm trying to make a parser which will read a CSV file and add information in a List.
My problem is that when I make my loop to add in a Dictionary, the header(key) and the value(value), I have a error
"Impossible to cast void in List" (translated from French).
Code:
private List<string> header = null;
private List<string> tableauValeurs = null;
public bool ParseCSVFile(string csvPath)
{
bool result = false;
if (File.Exists(csvPath))
{
using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(csvPath))
{
var firsLine = sr.ReadLine();
this.header = firsLine.Split(';').ToList();
while (sr.Peek() >= 0)
{
var line = sr.ReadLine().Split(';');
this.tableauValeurs = new List<string>();
Dictionary<string, List<string>> lineDico = new Dictionary<string, List<string>>();
for (int i = 0; i < this.header.Count; i++)
{
lineDico.Add(this.header[i], ***this.tableauValeurs.Add(line[i]***);
}
}
result = true;
}
}
return result;
}
Any idea? Thanks

The method Add is a void method. It doesn't return a new list.
So, add your element into the list first, then put the list into the Dictionary.
this.tableauValeurs.Add(line[i]);
lineDico.Add(this.header[i], this.tableauValeurs);

Add returns void. You need to add your line to tableauValeurs first and then add tableauValeurs to your Dictionary

You have:
lineDico.Add(this.header[i], this.tableauValeurs.Add(line[i]));
Now; lineDico is Dictionary<string, List<string>>, so the Add method wants a string and a List<string>; this.header[i] looks fine, but this.tableauValeurs.Add(line[i]) will return void, which isn't a List<string>. So: what is the List<string> that you intended to add as the value in lineDico?

this.tableauValeurs.Add(line[i]) doesnt return a list.
Probably best to use: (no need of this if field is only in this class)
tableauValeurs.Add(line[i]));
lineDico.Add(header[i], tableauValeurs);
If you wish to have a new list associated with dictionary, move the new list declaration after for loop.

C# Method is not executing sequentially

I have the below code:
public Dictionary<int, Ticket> GetNewTickets()
{
Dictionary<int, Ticket> output = new Dictionary<int, Ticket>();
foreach (KeyValuePair<int, Ticket> item in ticketStore)
{
if (!ticketStoreNew.ContainsKey(item.Key))
{
output.Add(item.Key, item.Value);
}
}
ticketStoreNew = ticketStore;
return output;
}`
It takes a dictionary, ticketStore, checks to see if it has any new elements not in ticketStoreNew and puts them in the output dictionary. Then, ticketStoreNew is set to ticketStore until ticketStore is updated with another method and this method is ran again.
However, when I include the line ticketStoreNew = ticketStore, the program returns an empty dictionary. It looks like the method is not executing sequentially and this is running prior to the for loop.
I really just need to return any new items added to the ticketStore dictionary.
EDIT
Below is the code for getting ticketStore:
public void UpdateTickets(string inputXml)
{
// If no new tickets exit
if (inputXml.Trim() == "") { return; }
//xmlString = inputXml;
// Load XML into an enumerable
XElement xelement = XElement.Parse(inputXml);
IEnumerable<XElement> xml = xelement.Elements();
foreach (var item in xml)
{
if (item.Name == "incident")
{
int id;
// If ID can be converted to INT
if (Int32.TryParse(item.Element("id").Value, out id))
{
// If ticket is not already in store create ticket and populate data
if (!ticketStore.ContainsKey(id))
{
Ticket ticket = new Ticket();
ticket.id = id;
ticket.number = Int32.Parse(item.Element("number").Value);
ticket.title = item.Element("name").Value;
ticket.description = item.Element("description").Value;
ticketStore.Add(id, ticket);
}
}
}
}
}
}
The tickets are all based on getting XML from the Samanage API.

If another method updates ticketStore then the assignment is the problem. It doesn't copy the contents of ticketStore to ticketStoreNew it sets the reference ticketStoreNew to point to the same instance as ticketStore. Thus they are the same object and always have the same contents. Try creating a new Dictionary to copy the items:
ticketStoreNew = new Dictionary<int, Ticket>(ticketStore);

Try this code:
private Dictionary<int, Ticket> ticketStoreNew =
new Dictionary<int, Ticket>(); // add this line
public Dictionary<int, Ticket> GetNewTickets()
{
Dictionary<int, Ticket> output = new Dictionary<int, Ticket>();
foreach (KeyValuePair<int, Ticket> item in ticketStore)
{
if (!ticketStoreNew.ContainsKey(item.Key))
{
output.Add(item.Key, item.Value);
ticketStoreNew.Add(item.Key, item.Value); // add this line
}
}
//ticketStoreNew = ticketStore; remove this line
return output;
}

C# elegant way to assign properties values rather then duplication

i have searched for something similiar in stackoverflow and couldnt find anything which will give me some hint.
i have following code:
DATA val1 = new DATA();
val1.Name = "KeyValue";
val1.Value = "805373069";
DATA val2 = new DATA();
val2.Name = "Tel";
val2.Value = "0123456789";
DATA val3 = new DATA();
val3.Name = "TargetID";
val3.Value = "43301";
DATA val4 = new DATA();
val4.Name = "ServiceLevel";
val4.Value = "Y";
DATA val5 = new DATA();
val5.Name = "TypeId";
val5.Value = "13505";
DATA val6 = new DATA();
val6.Name = "DateTime";
val6.Value = System.DateTime.Now.ToString("ddMMyyyyHHmmssffftt");
DATA val7 = new DATA();
val7.Name = "DbDateTime";
val7.Value = System.DateTime.Now.ToString("ddMMyyyyHHmmssffftt");
and once all the objects are populated i put them in Single array.
i.e. to be used somewhere else
DATA[] array = {val1,val2,val3,val4,val5,val6,val7};
and Proxy class which i cant change is:
public partial class DATA {
private string nameField;
private string valueField;
public string Name {
get {
return this.nameField;
}
set {
this.nameField = value;
this.RaisePropertyChanged("Name");
}
}
public string Value {
get {
return this.valueField;
}
set {
this.valueField = value;
this.RaisePropertyChanged("Value");
}
}
Now what i have tried and failed to make it easier is used Dictionary and also jagged array and multi dimensional array which didnt worked as i hoped.
can someone give me hint of a better solution then having 7 different objects created, as this data is dynamic i have to do this runtime data population.
suggestions please?

You could just declare the objects in-line as part of the array declaration, if all you're trying to do is avoid having the variables:
DATA[] array = {
new DATA { Name = "something", Value = "something else" },
new DATA { Name = "something", Value = "something else" },
new DATA { Name = "something", Value = "something else" },
new DATA { Name = "something", Value = "something else" }
};
Anywhere that you have a variable, you can instead have the operation which created that variable. The order of operations will result in evaluating to the same thing. Where you'd need a variable is where you want to use the same instance of something multiple times, or the same value without having to re-calculate it.

Put all data in a dictionary if you want to make sure names must not be duplicated:
var data = new Dictionary<string, string>();
// fill dictionary:
data.Add("name1", /*value*/);
data.Add("name2", /*value*/);
data.Add("name3", /*value*/);
data.Add("name4", /*value*/);
Then convert it to array:
return data.Select(d => new Data(){ Name = d.Key, Value = d.Value}).ToArray();
Make sure you have included using System.Linq in top.
UPDATE:
As #LukeH suggested, You can simply use collection initializer like this:
var data = new Data[]
{
new Data(){ Name = "Sylvester", Value = /*value*/ },
new Data(){ Name = "Whiskers", Value = /*value*/ },
new Data(){ Name = "Sasha", Value = /*value*/ }
};
Which doesn't prevent duplicate names for Data type instances.

You can create extension method something like this to overcome the problem of assign properties values rather then duplication,
static class Extensions
{
public static void AddDataObject(this List<DATA> dataList, params string[] values)
{
dataList.Add(new DATA() { Name = values[0], Value = values[1] });
}
}
and passing that values as per given below,
List<DATA> dataList = new List<DATA>();
dataList.AddDataObject("KeyValue", "805373069");
dataList.AddDataObject("Tel", "0123456789");
Here in above example I used List instead of array, you can change according to your requirements

You could initialize an anonymous object and then convert to an array of data like this:
var data = new {
KeyValue="805373069",
Tel="0123456789",
TargetID="43301",
ServiceLevel="Y",
TypeId="13505",
DateTime=System.DateTime.Now.ToString("ddMMyyyyHHmmssffftt"),
DbDateTime=System.DateTime.Now.ToString("ddMMyyyyHHmmssffftt")
};
var array = data.GetType()
.GetProperties()
.Select(x=>new DATA{Name=x.Name,Value=(string)x.GetValue(data)})
.ToArray();
You could also do it like this:
var data = new {
KeyValue="805373069",
Tel="0123456789",
TargetID="43301",
ServiceLevel="Y",
TypeId="13505",
DateTime=System.DateTime.Now.ToString("ddMMyyyyHHmmssffftt"),
DbDateTime=System.DateTime.Now.ToString("ddMMyyyyHHmmssffftt")
};
var array=System.Web.Mvc.HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(data)
.Select(x=>new DATA {Name=x.Key,Value=(string)x.Value})
.ToArray();
If you need to take an array of data and convert it back into a class object (not anonymous), you can do the first method, just in reverse as well. Or put extension methods on it to convert from/to your data array.
static class Extensions
{
public static DATA[] ToDataArray(this object data)
{
return data.GetType()
.GetProperties()
.Select(x=>new DATA{Name=x.Name,Value=(string)x.GetValue(data)})
.ToArray();
}
}
var data = new {
KeyValue="805373069",
Tel="0123456789",
TargetID="43301",
ServiceLevel="Y",
TypeId="13505",
DateTime=System.DateTime.Now.ToString("ddMMyyyyHHmmssffftt"),
DbDateTime=System.DateTime.Now.ToString("ddMMyyyyHHmmssffftt")
};
var array=data.ToDataArray();
However, David's answer is better.

Bing API Query Callback to Observable Collection

Created a Windows Store App using some info found on this post: How do I use the Bing Search API in Windows Phone?
Goal
Textbox - Type any term
Search Button - Searches that term and populates a GridView of pictures retrieved with the Bing API
Problem
I get the pictures, and they are received via my "OnQueryComplete" callback, but I can't figure out what the correct way to populate the collection would be. Since I can't figure out how to await this call, I (just to see if I could get it working, which it does) added a while loop (which you can probably see the issues with). What would be the correct way to do this? How do you handle callbacks for populating the GridView and having it wait until it's finished?
Current ViewModel Code
public bool itemsFinished = false;
private ObservableCollection<SearchResult> _ImageResults;
public ObservableCollection<SearchResult> ImageResults {
get {
if (_ImageResults == null) {
while (!itemsFinished) {
int i = 0;
i++;
}
}
return _ImageResults;
}
set {
_ImageResults = value;
}
}
public SearchResultViewModel() {
GetPictures("dogs");
}
public void GetPictures(string searchTerm) {
// This is the query - or you could get it from args.
string query = searchTerm;
// Create a Bing container.
string rootUri = "https://api.datamarket.azure.com/Bing/Search";
var bingContainer = new Bing.BingSearchContainer(new Uri(rootUri));
// Replace this value with your account key.
var accountKey = "myaccountkey";
// Configure bingContainer to use your credentials.
bingContainer.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(accountKey, accountKey);
// Build the query.
var imageQuery = bingContainer.Image(query, null, null, null, null, null, null);
imageQuery.BeginExecute(OnQueryComplete, imageQuery);
// var imageResults = imageQuery.Execute();
}
private void OnQueryComplete(IAsyncResult result) {
// ImageResults.Clear();
_ImageResults = new ObservableCollection<SearchResult>();
var query = (DataServiceQuery<ImageResult>)result.AsyncState;
var enumerableResults = query.EndExecute(result);
int i = 0;
foreach (var item in enumerableResults) {
SearchResult myResult = new SearchResult();
myResult.Title = item.Title;
myResult.ImageUri = new Uri(item.MediaUrl);
ImageResults.Add(myResult);
i++;
if (i >= 14) {
break;
}
}
itemsFinished = true;
}

Please excuse any syntax errors, I'm without a Visual Studio instance right now.
The problem I see is that you reset your ObservableCollection when you receive content.
Try it as follows:
private ObservableCollection<SearchResult> _ImageResults;
public ObservableCollection<SearchResult> ImageResults {
get
{
return _ImageResults;
}
set {
_ImageResults = value;
}
}
public SearchResultViewModel() {
_ImageResults = new ObservableCollection<SearchResult>(); // Just create it once.
GetPictures("dogs");
}
private void OnQueryComplete(IAsyncResult result) {
_ImageResults.Clear(); // Clear isn't bad, that way you keep your reference to your original collection!
//_ImageResults = new ObservableCollection<SearchResult>(); // We already have one. ObservableCollection works best if you keep on working with the collection you have.
var query = (DataServiceQuery<ImageResult>)result.AsyncState;
var enumerableResults = query.EndExecute(result);
int i = 0;
foreach (var item in enumerableResults) {
SearchResult myResult = new SearchResult();
myResult.Title = item.Title;
myResult.ImageUri = new Uri(item.MediaUrl);
ImageResults.Add(myResult);
i++;
if (i >= 14) {
break;
}
}
}
As far as I see (can't test sadly) this should work, provided you have bound your ObservableCollection the right way in your xaml.