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Check if only one property is not null or empty among 3 properties

I have 3 properties (for sake of simplicity 3 variables)
Method FillOrNotFill illustrates that strings a, b, c can be empty, not empty or null.
I need to validate a case that only one string must be not empty and not null, where the others must be empty or null.
I can do it with multiple conditions (like in those multiple if's), but Im looking for some more elegant solution.
string x = "someValue"
string a = FillOrNotFill(x);
string b = FillOrNotFill(x);
string c = FillOrNotFill(x);
//sample of multiple if's
if((!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(payload.a) && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(payload.b) && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(payload.c))
|| (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(payload.b) && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(payload.a) && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(payload.c)
|| (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(payload.c) && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(payload.b) && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(payload.a)
)))
{
//valid!
}

You could put them into a colllection, then its easy:
string[] all = {a, b, c};
bool result = all.Count(s => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(s)) == 1;
If there were thousands you could make it more efficient in this way:
bool result = all.Where(s => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(s)).Take(2).Count() == 1;

LINQ ternary result of binary list

Assume I have a list of binary parameters (in reality it is a list of checkboxes' IsChecked.Value property). I'm trying to get the bool? (ternary) result that:
is true if all the elements in the list are true
is false if all the elements in the list are false
is null in all other cases, thus there are both true and false elements in the list or the list is empty
Until now I came up with the solution that requires iterating over the list twice (checking whether all elements are either true or false) and then comparing the results to deciding whether to return true, false or null.
This is my code:
bool checkTrue = myListOfBooleans.All(l => l);
bool checkFalse = myListOfBooleans.All(l => !l);
bool? result = (!checkTrue && !checkFalse) ? null : (bool?)checkTrue;
How can I achieve it in only one iteration over the list?

You could do that by using Aggegrate
public bool? AllSameValue(List<bool> myListOfBooleans)
{
if(myListOfBooleans.Count == 0) return null; // or whatever value makes sense
return myListOfBooleans.Cast<bool?>().Aggregate((c, a) => c == a ? a : null);
}
That casts your values to bool? so that you can then compare them and return the value if that they all match or null if there is a difference.
Of course you could exit early by taking the first one and using All to see if the rest match or not.
public bool? AllSameValue(List<bool> myListOfBooleans)
{
if(myListOfBooleans.Count == 0) return null; // or whatever value makes sense
bool first = myListOfBooleans[0];
return myListOfBooleans.All(x => x == first ) ? first : null;
}

You can simply count the true values:
int c = myListOfBooleans.Count(l => l);
bool? result = c == myListOfBooleans.Count
? (bool?)true
: (c == 0 ? (bool?)false : null);
Note that this is true for an empty list, you may want to tweak that according to your required logic.
For a better performance (though I don't think it matters in a UI context) you could write an extension that could even return early if the result is clear (instead of iterating through the whole list):
public static bool? AllOrNothing(this IEnumerable<bool> list)
{
if (list == null) throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(list));
using(var enumerator = list.GetEnumerator())
{
if (!enumerator.MoveNext())
return null; // or true or false, what you need for an empty list
bool? current = enumerator.Current;
while(enumerator.MoveNext())
if (current != enumerator.Current) return null;
return current;
}
}
And use it:
bool? result = myListOfBooleans.AllOrNothing();

What to do to get only one List?

Hello i have a method that compares the objects of 2 Lists for differences. Right now this works but only for one property at a time.
Here is the Method:
public SPpowerPlantList compareTwoLists(string sqlServer, string database, DateTime timestampCurrent, string noteCurrent, DateTime timestampOld, string noteOld)
{
int count = 0;
SPpowerPlantList powerPlantListCurrent = loadProjectsAndComponentsFromSqlServer(sqlServer, database, timestampCurrent, noteCurrent);
SPpowerPlantList powerPlantListOld = loadProjectsAndComponentsFromSqlServer(sqlServer, database, timestampOld, noteOld);
SPpowerPlantList powerPlantListDifferences = new SPpowerPlantList();
count = powerPlantListOld.Count - powerPlantListCurrent.Count;
var differentObjects = powerPlantListCurrent.Where(p => !powerPlantListOld.Any(l => p.mwWeb == l.mwWeb)).ToList();
foreach (var differentObject in differentObjects)
{
powerPlantListDifferences.Add(differentObject);
}
return powerPlantListDifferences;
}
This works and i get 4 Objects in the new List. The Problem is that i have a few other properties that i need to compare. Instead of mwWeb for example name. When i try to change it i need for every new property a new List and a new Foreach-Loop.
e.g.
int count = 0;
SPpowerPlantList powerPlantListCurrent = loadProjectsAndComponentsFromSqlServer(sqlServer, database, timestampCurrent, noteCurrent);
SPpowerPlantList powerPlantListOld = loadProjectsAndComponentsFromSqlServer(sqlServer, database, timestampOld, noteOld);
SPpowerPlantList powerPlantListDifferences = new SPpowerPlantList();
SPpowerPlantList powerPlantListDifferences2 = new SPpowerPlantList();
count = powerPlantListOld.Count - powerPlantListCurrent.Count;
var differentObjects = powerPlantListCurrent.Where(p => !powerPlantListOld.Any(l => p.mwWeb == l.mwWeb)).ToList();
var differentObjects2 = powerPlantListCurrent.Where(p => !powerPlantListOld.Any(l => p.shortName == l.shortName)).ToList();
foreach (var differentObject in differentObjects)
{
powerPlantListDifferences.Add(differentObject);
}
foreach (var differentObject in differentObjects2)
{
powerPlantListDifferences2.Add(differentObject);
}
return powerPlantListDifferences;
Is there a way to prevent this? or to make more querys and get only 1 List with all different Objects back?
I tried it with except and intersect but that didnt worked.
So any help or advise would be great and thx for your time.
PS: If there is something wrong with my question-style please say it to me becouse i try to learn to ask better questions.

You may be able to simply chain the properties that you wanted to compare within your Where() clause using OR statements :
// This should get you any elements that have different A properties, B properties, etc.
var different = current.Where(p => !old.Any(l => p.A == l.A || p.B == l.B))
.ToList();
If that doesn't work and you really want to use the Except() or Intersect() methods to properly compare the objects, you could write your own custom IEqualityComparer<YourPowerPlant> to use to properly compare them :
class PowerPlantComparer : IEqualityComparer<YourPowerPlant>
{
// Powerplants are are equal if specific properties are equal.
public bool Equals(YourPowerPlant x, YourPowerPlant y)
{
// Check whether the compared objects reference the same data.
if (Object.ReferenceEquals(x, y)) return true;
//Check whether any of the compared objects is null.
if (Object.ReferenceEquals(x, null) || Object.ReferenceEquals(y, null))
return false;
// Checks the other properties to compare (examples using mwWeb and shortName)
return x.mwWeb == y.mwWeb && x.shortName == y.shortName;
}
// If Equals() returns true for a pair of objects
// then GetHashCode() must return the same value for these objects.
public int GetHashCode(YourPowerPlant powerPlant)
{
// Check whether the object is null
if (Object.ReferenceEquals(powerPlant, null)) return 0;
// Get hash code for the mwWeb field if it is not null.
int hashA = powerPlant.mwWeb == null ? 0 : powerPlant.mwWeb.GetHashCode();
// Get hash code for the shortName field if it is not null.
int hashB = powerPlant.shortName == null ? 0 : powerPlant.shortName.GetHashCode();
// Calculate the hash code for the product.
return hashA ^ hashB;
}
}
and then you could likely use something like one of the following depending on your needs :
var different = current.Except(old,new PowerPlantComparer());
or :
var different = current.Intersect(old,new PowerPlantComparer());

One way is to use IEqualityComparer as Rion Williams suggested, if you'd like a more flexible solution you can split logic in to two parts. First create helper method that accepts two lists, and function where you can define what properties you wish to compare. For example :
public static class Helper
{
public static SPpowerPlantList GetDifference(this SPpowerPlantList current, SPpowerPlantList old, Func<PowerPlant, PowerPlant, bool> func)
{
var diff = current.Where(p => old.All(l => func(p, l))).ToList();
var result = new SPpowerPlantList();
foreach (var item in diff) result.Add(item);
return result;
}
}
And use it :
public SPpowerPlantList compareTwoLists(string sqlServer, string database,
DateTime timestampCurrent, string noteCurrent,
DateTime timestampOld, string noteOld)
{
var powerPlantListCurrent = ...;
var powerPlantListOld = ...;
var diff = powerPlantListCurrent.GetDifference(
powerPlantListOld,
(x, y) => x.mwWeb != y.mwWeb ||
x.shortName != y.shortName);
return diff;
}
P.S. if it better suits your needs, you could move method inside of existing class :
public class MyClass
{
public SPpowerPlantList GetDifference(SPpowerPlantList current, SPpowerPlantList old, Func<PowerPlant, PowerPlant, bool> func)
{
...
}
}
And call it (inside of class) :
var result = GetDifference(currentValues, oldValues, (x, y) => x.mwWeb != y.mwWeb);

The easiest way to do this would be to compare some unique identifier (ID)
var differentObjects = powerPlantListCurrent
.Where(p => !powerPlantListOld.Any(l => p.Id == l.Id)
.ToList();
If the other properties might have been updated and you want to check that too, you'll have to compare all of them to detect changes made to existing elements:
Implement a camparison-method (IComparable, IEquatable, IEqualityComparer, or override Equals) or, if that's not possible because you didn't write the class yourself (code generated or external assembly), write a method to compare two of those SPpowerPlantList elements and use that instead of comparing every single property in Linq. For example:
public bool AreThoseTheSame(SPpowerPlantList a,SPpowerPlantList b)
{
if(a.mwWeb != b.mwWeb) return false;
if(a.shortName != b.shortName) return false;
//etc.
return true;
}
Then replace your difference call with this:
var differentObjects = powerPlantListCurrent
.Where(p => !powerPlantListOld.Any(l => AreThoseTheSame(p,l))
.ToList();

How to Check All Values in Dictionary is same in C#?

I have a Dictionary, I want to write a method to check whether all values are same in this Dictionary.
Dictionary Type:
Dictionary<string, List<string>>
List {1,2,3}`and {2,1,3} are same in my case.
I have done this previously for simple datatype values, but I can not find logic for new requirement, please help me.
For simple values:
MyDict.GroupBy(x => x.Value).Where(x => x.Count() > 1)
I have also written a Generic Method to compare two datatypes in this way.
// 1
// Require that the counts are equal
if (a.Count != b.Count)
{
return false;
}
// 2
// Initialize new Dictionary of the type
Dictionary<T, int> d = new Dictionary<T, int>();
// 3
// Add each key's frequency from collection A to the Dictionary
foreach (T item in a)
{
int c;
if (d.TryGetValue(item, out c))
{
d[item] = c + 1;
}
else
{
d.Add(item, 1);
}
}
// 4
// Add each key's frequency from collection B to the Dictionary
// Return early if we detect a mismatch
foreach (T item in b)
{
int c;
if (d.TryGetValue(item, out c))
{
if (c == 0)
{
return false;
}
else
{
d[item] = c - 1;
}
}
else
{
// Not in dictionary
return false;
}
}
// 5
// Verify that all frequencies are zero
foreach (int v in d.Values)
{
if (v != 0)
{
return false;
}
}
// 6
// We know the collections are equal
return true;

Implement an IEqualityComparer for List<string> that compares two list based on their content. Then just use Distinct on Values and check the count:
dictionary.Values.Distinct(new ListEqualityComparer()).Count() == 1

This should do the trick
var lists = dic.Select(kv => kv.Value.OrderBy(x => x)).ToList();
var first = lists.First();
var areEqual = lists.Skip(1).All(hs => hs.SequenceEqual(first));
You'll need to add some checks to make this work for the empty case.
...or if you want to take #Selman's approach here's an implementation of the IEqualityComparer:
class SequenceComparer<T>:IEqualityComparer<IEnumerable<T>>
{
public bool Equals(IEnumerable<T> left, IEnumerable<T> right)
{
return left.OrderBy(x => x).SequenceEqual(right.OrderBy(x => x));
}
public int GetHashCode(IEnumerable<T> item)
{
//no need to sort because XOR is commutative
return item.Aggregate(0, (acc, val) => val.GetHashCode() ^ acc);
}
}
You could make a variant of this combining the best of both approaches using a HashSet<T> that might be considerably more efficient in the case that you have many candidates to test:
HashSet<IEnumerable<int>> hs = new HashSet<IEnumerable<int>>(new SequenceComparer<int>());
hs.Add(dic.First().Value);
var allEqual = dic.All(kvp => !hs.Add(kvp.Value));
This uses the feature of HashSets that disallows adding more than one item that is considered equal with an item already in the set. We make the HashSet use the custom IEqualityComparer above...
So we insert an arbitrary item from the dictionary before we start, then the moment another item is allowed into the set (i.e. hs.Add(kvp.Value) is true), we can say that there's more than one item in the set and bail out early. .All does this automatically.

Selman22's answer works perfectly - you can also do this for your Dictionary<string, List<string>> without having to implement an IEqualityComparer yourself:
var firstValue = dictionary.Values.First().OrderBy(x => x);
return dictionary.Values.All (x => x.OrderBy(y => y).SequenceEqual(firstValue));
We compare the first value to every other value, and check equality in each case. Note that List<string>.OrderBy(x => x) simply sorts the list of strings alphabetically.

Its not the fastest sdolution, but its works for me:
bool AreEqual = l1.Intersect(l2).ToList().Count() == l1.Count() && l1.Count() == l2.Count();

Custom c# collection class sorting by multiple properties

I am sorting a custom class as follows, which is sorted by FirstHalfPoints:
var firstHalfTables = new FirstHalfTableCollection();
firstHalfTables.PopulateForSeason(SeasonId);
firstHalfTables.Sort((t1, t2) => t1.FirstHalfPoints.CompareTo(t2.FirstHalfPoints));
firstHalfTables.Reverse();
FirstHalfTableRepeater.DataSource = firstHalfTables;
FirstHalfTableRepeater.DataBind();
I also need to sort by a two further fields 'GD' - Goal Difference and 'GF' - Goals For- after this initial sort by 'FirstHalfPoints'
So the finished collection will be sorted by FirstHalfPoints, then by GD, then by GF.
Can anyone help me out with multiple sorting?

You could use LINQ, which often makes the code more readable:
var firstHalfTables = new FirstHalfTableCollection();
firstHalfTables.PopulateForSeason(SeasonId);
var firstHalfTablesProcessed = (from table in firstHalfTables
orderby table.FirstHalfPoints, table.GD, table.GF
select table).Reverse()
FirstHalfTableRepeater.DataSource = firstHalfTablesProcessed;
Or you could make your comparison delegate return the proper sorting (probably better as normal function than lambda):
int FirstHalfTableComparison(FirstHalfTable t1, FirstHalfTable t2)
{
int result = t1.FirstHalfPoints.CompareTo(t2.FirstHalfPoints);
if (result == 0)
{
result = t1.GD.CompareTo(t2.GD);
if (result == 0)
result = t1.GF.CompareTo(t2.GF);
}
return result;
}
You can use that like this:
firstHalfTables.Sort(FirstHalfTableComparison);

you can use direct LINQ expressions: "OrderBy" and "ThenBy" too: MSDN Sorting Data
OR
you have to extent your comparison. You have to remember: a.CompareTo(b) should return -1 if a is "smaller" than b, 0 if they are equal and +1 if a is "bigger" than b.
So try the following:
private void Compare(YourRow a, YourRow b)
{
let v = a.FirstHalfPoints.CompareTo(b.FirstHalfPoints);
if (v != 0) return v;
v = a.GD.CompareTo(b.GD);
if (v != 0) return v;
return a.GF.CompareTo(b.GF);
}
and call Sort with this function.