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Create a Dictionary with multiple keys and get value using one of keys

I want to create a Dictionary that have a multiple keys and when I want to get value using just one or more keys.
I tried :
Dictionary<Tuple<int, string>, string> dictionary = new Dictionary<Tuple<int, string>, string>();
var Key =new Tuple<int,string>(1,"I1");
var Value = "this is a value";
dictionary.Add(Key, Value);
When I try to get value from the dictionary I Must / Should enter all the keys
Like this :
MessageBox.Show($"{dictionary[new Tuple<int, string>(1,"I1")]}");
But when I try to get value using just one of keys like this
MessageBox.Show($"{dictionary[new Tuple<int, string>(1,"")]}");
I got error, I know that this error happened cause dictionary need the full exist key to return a value.
So please anyone have any Idea about how can I create a Dictionary with multiple keys and when retrieving value using just one or more or all keys ?

Dictionaries in .NET are expected to have close to O(1) lookup times. To achieve this, they make use of the GetHashCode() and Equals() methods of the key objects. The resulting hash code is used to divide the dictionary's contents into partitions. When you look up an item, the partition is identified using the hash code, all the items in that partition with a matching hash code* are compared to the key you're looking up using the Equals() method.
Here you are trying to create a dictionary with two keys for every object. You're doing this using a Tuple to make one key. The GetHashCode() result of a Tuple is based on both of its values, so the performance of a dictionary is lost if you want to look up values by only half of the key. You would need to go through the entire dictionary comparing each individual item, rendering it little better than a list.
One solution would be to make a dictionary that has a string->int key lookup, and then the other dictionary just be int->string. This would require two lookups when using string keys, but might be a good solution.
Example:
Dictionary<string, int> stringKeyToIntKey = new Dictionary<string, int>();
Dictionary<int, string> intKeyDict = new Dictionary<int, string>();
intKeyDict[1] = "Test";
stringKeyToIntKey["I1"] = 1;
Console.WriteLine(intKeyDict[1]);
Console.WriteLine(intKeyDict[stringKeyToIntKey["I1"]]);
An add method could look like this:
public void AddEntry(int intKey, string stringKey, string value)
{
intKeyDict[intKey] = value;
stringKeyToIntKey[stringKey] = intKey;
}
And you could wrap TryGetValue to make life easier:
public bool TryGetValue(string stringKey, out string value)
{
value = null;
return stringKeyToIntKey.TryGetValue(stringKey, out int intKey) && intKeyDict.TryGetValue(intKey, out value);
}
Delete would look like this:
public void DeleteEntry(string stringKey)
{
if (stringKeyToIntKey.TryGetValue(stringKey, out int intKey))
{
intKeyDict.Remove(intKey);
stringKeyToIntKey.Remove(stringKey);
}
}
You would have to make sure that items are added and removed from both dictionaries at the same time. When you add an item to intKey, you would need to add the corresponding key mapping to stringKeyToIntKey.
Alternatively, you could have two dictionaries: one with a string key and one with an int key, and each would have the same values. Again you would have to add and remove items at the same time, and you would also have to update the values in both at the same time.
Example:
Dictionary<string, string> stringKeyDict = new Dictionary<string, string>();
Dictionary<int, string> intKeyDict = new Dictionary<int, string>();
stringKeyDict["I1"] = "hello";
intKeyDict[1] = "hello";
Console.WriteLine(stringKeyDict["I1"]);
Console.WriteLine(intKeyDict[1]);
This is my favoured approach where the values are class instances, since both dictionaries will reference the same class instances for my items, and thus changes to properties of those instances will be reflected in both. For strings, however, the first option might be better.
* Hash codes are not unique and multiple objects can potentially have the same hash code, even if their values are not the same

You can use string for dictionary keys. Let's say you want to create a key from int x = 5 and string y = "str". You can concat and split them with some separator, and create a key like this:
string key = $"{x}:{y}"
And let's say you want to get elements only by x. you can write something like this:
dictionary.Where(kvp=>kvp.Key.Contains($"{x}:"))
of course, it will not give elements in O(1) time(it will give you elements in O(n) time) but it will work. If you want to get elements in O(1) time only by x I am not sure if it's possible with one dictionary.

Creating dictionaries with pre-defined keys C#

I'm looking for a way to define a dictionary for reuse. ie. I can create the dictionary object without having to populate it with the values I want.
Here is what I have currently (note code not tested, just example)
public Dictionary<string, string> NewEntryDictionary()
{
Dictionary<string, string> dic = new Dictionary<string, string>();
// populate key value pair
foreach(string name in Enum.GetNames(typeof(Suits))
{
dic.Add(name, "");
}
return dic;
}
The end result should be a new dictionary object with a predefined set of keys.
But I want to avoid doing it this way.

It's not really clear whether you're concerned about the amount of code you've written, or the efficiency of it. From an efficiency perspective, it's fine - it's O(N), but that's hard to avoid if you're populating a dictionary with N entries.
You can definitely make the source code shorter though, using LINQ:
public Dictionary<string, string> NewEntryDictionary()
{
return Enum.GetNames(typeof(Suits)).ToDictionary(name => name, name => "");
}
That won't be any more efficient, of course... it's just shorter code.

If you do ONLY want to save values according to your enum, use
Dictionary<Suits,String> instead of Dictionary<String,String>
Everything else, Jon already said. Use LinQ for a bit more "fancy" look. But that does not do better performance

Make an existing Dictionary case insensitive .Net

I know how to make a new dictionary case insensitive with the code below:
var caseInsensitiveDictionary = new Dictionary<string, string>(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
But I'm using WebApi which serializes JSON objects into a class we've created.
public class Notification : Common
{
public Notification();
[JsonProperty("substitutionStrings")]
public Dictionary<string, string> SubstitutionStrings { get; set; }
}
So besides rebuilding the dictionary after receiving the "Notification" object, is there a way to set this dictionary to case insensitive in the first place or after it's been created?
Thanks

So besides rebuilding the dictionary after receiving the "Notification" object, is there a way to set this dictionary to case insensitive in the first place or after it's been created?
No, it is impossible. You need to create a new dictionary.
Currently the dictionary has all of the keys in various different buckets; changing the comparer would mean that a bunch of keys would all suddenly be in the wrong buckets. You'd need to go through each key and re-compute where it needs to go and move it, which is basically the same amount of work as creating a new dictionary would be.

Whenever an item is added to a dictionary, the dictionary will compute its hash code and make note of it. Whenever a dictionary is asked to look up an item, the dictionary will compute the hash code on the item being sought and assume that any item in the dictionary which had returned a different hash code cannot possibly match it, and thus need not be examined.
In order for a dictionary to regard "FOO", "foo", and "Foo" as equal, the hash code function it uses must yield the same value for all of them. If a dictionary was built using a hash function which returns different values for "FOO", "foo", and "Foo", changing to a hash function which yielded the same value for all three strings would require that the dictionary re-evaluate the hash value of every item contained therein. Doing this would require almost as much work as building a new dictionary from scratch, and for that reason .NET does not support any means of changing the hash function associated with a dictionary other than copying all the items from the old dictionary to a new dictionary, abandoning the old one.
Note that one could design a SwitchablyCaseSensitiveComparator whose GetHashCode() method would always return a case-insensitive hash value, but whose Equals method could be switched between case-sensitive and non-case sensitive operation. If one were to implement such a thing, one could add items to a dictionary and then switch between case-sensitive and non-case-sensitive modes. The biggest problem with doing that would be that adding if the dictionary is in case-sensitive mode when two items are added which differ only in case, attempts to retrieve either of those items when the dictionary is in case-insensitive mode might not behave as expected. If populating a dictionary in case-insensitive mode and performing some look-ups in case-sensitive mode should be relatively safe, however.

Try changing your class definition to something like this
public class Notification : Common
{
public Notification()
{
this.substitutionStringsBackingStore =
new Dictionary<string,string>( StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase )
;
}
[JsonProperty("substitutionStrings")]
public Dictionary<string, string> SubstitutionStrings
{
get { return substitutionStringsBackingStore ; }
set { substitutionStringsBackingStore = value ; }
}
private Dictionary<string,string> substitutionStringsBackingStore ;
}

You do have to re-create the dictionary, but this can be done with extensions:
public static class extensions
{
public static Dictionary<string, T> MakeCI<T>(this Dictionary<string, T> dictionary)
{
return dictionary.ToDictionary(kvp => kvp.Key, kvp => kvp.Value, StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
}
}
I've specified string type for the key as this is what we want to be CI, but the value can be any type.
You would use it like so:
myDict = myDict.MakeCI();

Key Value array in C# put into parameter

Coming from PHP, I have never written C# before and I have encountered something like this in C#:
public string rule(string playerId, string action, params string[] optionalData){
...
}
and in PHP it is like this
public function rule($playerId, $action, $optionalData=array()){
...
}
In PHP I simply fill out the parameter for the $optionalData like this...
myVar->rule("123", "myAction", array('url'=>'review.com');
However in C# I am not sure how to fill the optionalData (params string[] optionalData) parameter as it is a key value parameter (like in the PHP example). My question is how do I create a key value array like the PHP that I created in my example and put into the parameter?
CoolClass cc = new CoolClass();
cc.rule("123", "myAction", ???);
I was searching google and was looking at dictionary and hashmaps etc but I am guessing it is an overkill or it does not work..
Many thanks!

When you were looking at dictionaries, you were definitely looking at the right facility.
If rule() in C# is in your own code, may I recommend changing the signature to:
public string rule(string playerId, string action, IDictionary<string, string> optionalData = new Dictionary<string, string>()){
...
}
What this allows you to do:
Operate on the values in optionalData the way that other C# programmers will expect.
The = new Dictionary<string, string>() part of the suggested method signature make the parameter truly optional. It will not be necessary when calling the method.
You can use IDictionary<T> methods to work with the data. Some syntax you should be somewhat familiar with (consider accessing by key optionalData["someString"].)
However, if rule() is not in your code, you would leave out the optionalData by simply omitting parameters. Examples of valid calls of the original C# method in your question:
rule("Bob", "load")
rule("Bob", "load", "url", "www.example.com") (In this case, optionalData[0].Equals("url", StringComparisonOptions.Ordinal) and optionalData[1].Equals("www.example.com", StringComparisonOptions.Ordinal) is true.
One thing to consider about the original method - keep in mind that rule("Bob", "load", 'url") is a valid call, and you would need to have a run-time check to make sure you had the right number of parameters. Another plus to using a Dictionary<TKey, TValue>. You may even consider writing an adapter method to the original rule(), if you can't change it.

You can use a Dictionary:
Dictionary<string,string[]>
or something like:
Dictionary<int, string[]>
I believe dictionary will work in your case.

You can use Dictionary <key_datatype, value_datatype> .
Example:
Your method definition here :
public string rule(string playerId, string action, Dictionary<string, string> optionalData){
...
}
Method call:
Dictionary<string, string> optionalData = new Dictionary<string, string>();
optionalData.Add("url", "review.com");
cc.rule("123", "myAction", optionalData);
Or
you can use DynamoObject to make it more easier to write:
dynamic optionalData = new ExpandoObject();
//The token after the dynamoObject period will be the key to the assigned value.
optionalData.url = "review.com";
cc.rule("123", "myAction", optionalData);
Your method can get the key-value pairs like this:
public string rule(string playerId, string action, dynamic optionalData)
{
...
foreach (var pair in (IDictionary<string, object>)optionalData)
{
if (group.Key == "url")
{
Console.WriteLine(group.Value);
}
else if (group.Key == "post")
{
Console.WriteLine(group.Value);
}
}
}

Using LINQ to find all keys from one collection that are not in another?

I'm trying to locate all the keys in one Dictionary that are not in another Dictionary. Obviously, I can do this using a nested loop, but I'm trying to learn LINQ at the moment and I was wondering if I might use it to accomplish this task?
Here's what I have so far:
Dictionary<string, List<string>> DBtables = this.CollectTableListings();
var generic = from Dictionary<string,List<string>> tab
in DBtables
where !_tables.ContainsKey(???)
select tab;
Any idea what should go in place of the question marks (or perhaps instead of the entire where clause)?

You can do:
var resultKeys = DBTables.Keys.Except( _tables.Keys );
The Except() method is essentially the same as the minus operations in SQL - it returns all items from the first collection excluding those in the second. Since dictionaries expose their keys, you can compute their difference that way.
The Except() operator uses the default equality for the type, but there is also an overload which allows you to specify your own IEqualityComparer to override the semantics of how to compare values. In your example, you probably don't need that - but it's nice to know it there.

Dictionary<string, List<string>> dictOne = ...
Dictionary<string, List<string>> dictTwo = ...
var missingKeys = dictOne.Keys.Where(x => !dictTwo.ContainsKey(x));

Dictionary<string, List<string>> dictionary = this.CollectTableListings();
Dictionary<string, List<string>> otherDictionary = getOtherTable();
var keys = from key in dictionary.Keys
where !otherDictionary.Keys.Contains(key)
select key;
(But LBuskin's answer is much better)

have a look at the Except extension method. HTH.

If you wanted to use query syntax I would do something akin to below:
var keys = from d1 in dictionary1
select d1.Key;
var items = from d2 in dictionary2
where d2.Key in keys
select d2;
foreach(var item in items)
{
}