We Keep Coding

Simplest method to prove that the contents of two lists (containing objects) are equal

I am having a bit of a frustrating time finding a simple method to compare and prove that the contents of two lists are equal. I have looked at a number of solutions on stackoverflow but I have not been successful. Some of the solutions look like they will require a large amount of work to implement and do something that on the face of it to my mind should be simpler, but perhaps I am too simple to realize that this cannot be done simply :)
I have created a fiddle with some detail that can be viewed here: https://dotnetfiddle.net/cvQr5d
Alternatively please find the full example below, I am having trouble with the object comparison method (variable finalResult) as it's returning false and if the content were being compared I would expect the value to be true:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
public class ResponseExample
{
public Guid Id { get; set; } = Guid.Parse("00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000");
public int Value { get; set; } = 0;
public string Initials { get; set; } = "J";
public string FirstName { get; set; } = "Joe";
public string Surname { get; set; } = "Blogs";
public string CellPhone { get; set; } = "0923232199";
public bool EmailVerified { get; set; } = false;
public bool CellPhoneVerified { get; set; } = true;
}
public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
var responseOne = new ResponseExample();
var responseTwo = new ResponseExample();
var responseThree = new ResponseExample();
var responseFour = new ResponseExample();
List<ResponseExample> objectListOne = new List<ResponseExample>();
objectListOne.Add(responseOne);
objectListOne.Add(responseTwo);
List<ResponseExample> objectListTwo = new List<ResponseExample>();
objectListTwo.Add(responseThree);
objectListTwo.Add(responseFour);
bool result = objectListOne.Count == objectListTwo.Count();
Console.WriteLine($"Count: {result}");
bool finalResult = ScrambledEquals<ResponseExample>(objectListOne, objectListTwo);
Console.WriteLine($"Object compare: {finalResult}");
}
//https://stackoverflow.com/a/3670089/3324415
public static bool ScrambledEquals<T>(IEnumerable<T> list1, IEnumerable<T> list2)
{
var cnt = new Dictionary<T,
int>();
foreach (T s in list1)
{
if (cnt.ContainsKey(s))
{
cnt[s]++;
}
else
{
cnt.Add(s, 1);
}
}
foreach (T s in list2)
{
if (cnt.ContainsKey(s))
{
cnt[s]--;
}
else
{
return false;
}
}
return cnt.Values.All(c => c == 0);
}
}

As people in comments have pointed out this will not work as comparing a complex type by default compares whether the reference is the same. Field by field comparison will not work without implementing equality methods (and then you would need to overload GetHashCode and so on). See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.object.equals?view=net-5.0
However, if you can use c# 9, which is what you have in the fiddle you can define the type as a record instead of class. Records have built in field by field comparison. See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/whats-new/tutorials/records#characteristics-of-records
So public class ResponseExample would become public record ResponseExample and your code works as you expect.

Use Enumerable.All<TSource>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Boolean>) Method which Determines whether all elements of a sequence satisfy a condition.
Once you have initilized your two List
list1.All(x=>list2.Contains(x))
This works by ensuring that all elements in list2 are containted in list1 otherwise returns false

Your method as is will compare if the 2 lists contain the same objects. So it is returning false as there are 4 different objects. If you create your list like this, using the same objects, it will return true:
List<ResponseExample> objectListOne = new List<ResponseExample>();
objectListOne.Add(responseOne);
objectListOne.Add(responseTwo);
List<ResponseExample> objectListTwo = new List<ResponseExample>();
objectListTwo.Add(responseTwo);
objectListTwo.Add(responseOne);
To get a true value when the contents of the objects are the same you could serialize the objects into a json string like this:
public static bool ScrambledEquals<T>(IEnumerable<T> list1, IEnumerable<T> list2)
{
JavaScriptSerializer json = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var cnt = new Dictionary<string,
int>();
foreach (T _s in list1)
{
string s = json.Serialize(_s);
if (cnt.ContainsKey(s))
{
cnt[s]++;
}
else
{
cnt.Add(s, 1);
}
}
foreach (T _s in list2)
{
string s = json.Serialize(_s);
if (cnt.ContainsKey(s))
{
cnt[s]--;
}
else
{
return false;
}
}
return cnt.Values.All(c => c == 0);
}

If the performance is not a big deal, you can use Newtonsoft.Json. We will be able to compare different types of objects as well as run a deep equals check.
First install the package:
Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json
Here is the code snip:
public static bool DeepEqualsUsingJson<T>(IList<T> l1, IList<T> l2)
{
if (ReferenceEquals(l1, l2))
return true;
if (ReferenceEquals(l2, null))
return false;
if (l1.Count != l2.Count)
return false;
var l1JObject = l1.Select(i => JObject.FromObject(i)).ToList();
var l2JObject = l2.Select(i => JObject.FromObject(i)).ToList();
foreach (var o1 in l1JObject)
{
var index = l2JObject.FindIndex(o2 => JToken.DeepEquals(o1, o2));
if (index == -1)
return false;
l2JObject.RemoveAt(index);
}
return l2JObject.Count == 0;
}

C# custom add in a List

I have the following list of strings :
var files = new List<string> {"file0","file1","file2","file3" };
I would like to be able to add new files to this list, but if the inserted file is present in the list, I would like to insert custom value that will respect the following format $"{StringToBeInserted}"("{SomeCounter}
For instance : try to add "file0" and "file0" is already I would like to insert "file0(1)". If I try again to add "file0" ... I would like to insert with "file0(2)" and so on ... Also, I would like to provide a consistency, for instance if I delete "file0(1)" ... and try to add again "item0" ... I expect that "item0(1)" to be added. Can someone help me with a generic algorithm ?

I would use a HashSet<string> in this case:
var files = new HashSet<string> { "file0", "file1", "file2", "file3" };
string originalFile = "file0";
string file = originalFile;
int counter = 0;
while (!files.Add(file))
{
file = $"{originalFile}({++counter})";
}
If you have to use a list and the result should also be one, you can still use my set approach. Just initialize it with your list and the result list you'll get with files.ToList().

Well, you should create your own custom class for it, using the data structure you described and a simple class that includes a counter and an output method.
void Main()
{
var items = new ItemCountList();
items.AddItem("item0");
items.AddItem("item1");
items.AddItem("item2");
items.AddItem("item0");
items.ShowItems();
}
public class ItemCountList {
private List<SimpleItem> itemList;
public ItemCountList() {
itemList = new List<SimpleItem>();
}
public void DeleteItem(string value) {
var item = itemList.FirstOrDefault(b => b.Value == value);
if (item != null) {
item.Count--;
if (item.Count == 0)
itemList.Remove(item);
}
}
public void AddItem(string value) {
var item = itemList.FirstOrDefault(b => b.Value == value);
if (item != null)
item.Count++;
else
itemList.Add(new SimpleItem {
Value = value,
Count = 1
});
}
public void ShowItems() {
foreach (var a in itemList) {
Console.WriteLine(a.Value + "(" + a.Count + ")");
}
}
}
public class SimpleItem {
public int Count {get; set;}
public string Value {get; set;}
}

Retrieve values of attributes from XML using XDocument

I am using XDocument.Parse method to load following XML :
<AuditMessage>
<Event Action="Read" DateTime="2013/26/7" EventID="100"/>
<User Role="Admin" UserID="12123"/User>
<SourceIdentification SourceID="TeamLondon" SourceType="3"/>
<Network AccessPointID="143.176.8.32" AccessPointTypeCode="1" />
<Network AccessPointID="143.176.8.32" AccessPointTypeCode="`2" />
<Participant ParticipantID="0001" ParticipantType ="2"/>
<Participant ParticipantID="0002" ParticipantType ="3"/>
<Participant ParticipantID="0003" ParticipantType ="3" ParticipantName = "Housh Mangrove"/>
</AuditMessage>
I need to retrieve the values of following attributes in the above XML.
-DateTime
-Role
-AccessPointID
-ParticipantID
-ParticipantName
I have used sourceXML.Root.Element(nodeName).Attribute(attributeToMatch).Value to read a single attribute. I am failing to understand how can I iterate the same thing over different nodes, provided some nodes might be missing.
Please notice :
<Network> and <Participant> nodes are repeating.
ParticipantName attribute exists only in one Instance of
Lastly, any node could be missing in different XMLs provided as Input. Therefore I need to write code in such a way that if a node is missing, the application doesn't throw OBJECT REFERENCE NOT FOUND Exception

here's a quick attempt, you can figure out the ones I didn't add in:
public static void Main()
{
GetAtts(xml);
}
public static Atts GetAtts(string xml)
{
Atts atts = new Atts();
XDocument doc = XDocument.Parse(xml);
if (doc.Root.Element("Event") != null)
atts.datetime = doc.Root.Element("Event").Attribute("DateTime").Value;
//...
foreach (XElement ele in doc.Descendants("Network"))
atts.accesspointid.Add(ele.Attribute("AccessPointID").Value);
return atts;
}
public class Atts
{
public string datetime { get; set; }
public string role { get; set; }
private List<string>_accesspointid = new List<string>();
public List<string> accesspointid { get { return _accesspointid; } set { _accesspointid = value; } }
public List<string> _participantid = new List<string>();
public List<string> participantid { get { return _participantid; } set { _participantid = value; } }
public string participantname { get; set; }
}
you'll have an object you can handle more easily

You can use the Elements method to get an enumeration of nodes of a given name.
You can then test if the enumeration returned any results and look for the appropriate attributes in them.
Something like this, if you want it as CSV:
var data = new List<string>();
var events = doc.Root.Elements("Event");
if (events.Any())
{
foreach (var evt in events)
{
data.Add(evt.Attribute("DateTime").Value);
}
}
var participants = doc.Root.Elements("Participant");
if (participants.Any())
{
foreach (var participant in participants)
{
data.Add(participant.Attribute("ParticipantID").Value);
}
}
var csv = string.Join(", ", data);

Quick and dirty solution - hopefully you can take it from here:
var participantID = String.Join(", ",
xdoc.Root.Elements("Participant")
.Select(e => e.Attribute("ParticipantID"))
.Where(a => a != null)
.Select(a => a.Value)
.Distinct());

C# - XDocument / linq to object

How can i import xml elements to object? My code below doesn't work, it fails at the SetValue and i can't figure out why.
But even then, i suspect that linq has a much cleaner way of doing this but i can't find any examples.
class Printers {
public List<Printer> list = new List<Printer>();
public Printers()
{
var xDoc = XDocument.Load(Properties.Settings.Default.XmlSetupPath).Root;
var xPrinters = xDoc.Element("printers").Elements();
foreach (var xPrinter in xPrinters)
{
var printer = new Printer();
foreach (var xEl in xPrinter.Elements())
{
printer.GetType().GetProperty(xEl.Name.ToString()).SetValue(printer, xEl.Value);
}
}
}
}
class Printer
{
public string name;
public string ip;
public string model;
public string infx86;
public string infx64;
public string location;
public string comment;
}
my XML:
<printers>
<printer>
<name>my Printer</name>
<ip>192.168.100.100</ip>
<model>Brother</model>
<driver>ab</driver>
<infx86>ab\cd.INF</infx86>
<comment>Copycenter</comment>
</printer>
<printer>
<name>my Printer</name>
<foobar>oh no!</foobar>
</printer>
</printers>
I want to

You're asking for properties - but your type only has fields. Either make them properties, like this:
public string name { get; set; }
... or use Type.GetField instead.
In terms of making it prettier, I'd personally add a static FromXElement method to your Printer class, at which point you could have:
list = xDoc.Element("printers")
.Elements()
.Select(Printer.FromXElement)
.ToList();
Or you could write a generic method to create a new instance and populate it via reflection, e.g.
public static T FromXElement<T>(XElement element) where T : class, new()
{
T value = new T();
foreach (var subElement in element.Elements())
{
var field = typeof(T).GetField(subElement.Name.LocalName);
field.SetValue(value, (string) subElement);
}
return value;
}
Then:
list = xDoc.Element("printers")
.Elements()
.Select(XmlReflection.FromXElement<Printer>)
.ToList();

how do I combine objects in order to display all at the same time as JSON?

In the code below, check the following line:
//here I need to put the object "nd" into a "bucket" so that I can finish the loop and then return EVERYTHING together.
My question is, how do I combine objects to return as JSON? The reason why I need to "combine" is because of the loop which assigns values to specific properties of this class. Once each class has been done getting property values, I need to return everything as JSON.
namespace X
{
public class NotificationsController : ApiController
{
public List<NotificationTreeNode> getNotifications(int id)
{
var bo = new HomeBO();
var list = bo.GetNotificationsForUser(id);
var notificationTreeNodes = (from GBLNotifications n in list
where n.NotificationCount != 0
select new NotificationTreeNode(n)).ToList();
foreach (var notificationTreeNode in notificationTreeNodes)
{
Node nd = new Node();
nd.notificationType = notificationTreeNode.NotificationNode.NotificationType;
var notificationList = bo.GetNotificationsForUser(id, notificationTreeNode.NotificationNode.NotificationTypeId).Cast<GBLNotifications>().ToList();
List<string> notificationDescriptions = new List<string>();
foreach (var item in notificationList)
{
notificationDescriptions.Add(item.NotificationDescription);
}
nd.notifications = notificationDescriptions;
//here I need to put the object "nd" into a "bucket" so that I can finish the loop and then return EVERYTHING together.
}
return bucket;
}
}
public class Node
{
public string notificationType
{
get;
set;
}
public List<string> notifications
{
get;
set;
}
}
}

You can simply add each item to a list as you're iterating through the source collection:
public List<Node> getNotifications(int id)
{
var bucket = new List<Node>(notificationTreeNodes.Count);
foreach (var notificationTreeNode in notificationTreeNodes)
{
Node nd = new Node();
...
bucket.Add(nd);
}
return bucket;
}