Is there a common way to pass a single item of type T
to a method which expects an IEnumerable<T>
parameter? Language is C#, framework version 2.0.
Currently I am using a helper method (it's .Net 2.0, so I have a whole bunch of casting/projecting helper methods similar to LINQ), but this just seems silly:
public static class IEnumerableExt
{
// usage: IEnumerableExt.FromSingleItem(someObject);
public static IEnumerable<T> FromSingleItem<T>(T item)
{
yield return item;
}
}
Other way would of course be to create and populate a List<T>
or an Array
and pass it instead of IEnumerable<T>
.
[Edit] As an extension method it might be named:
public static class IEnumerableExt
{
// usage: someObject.SingleItemAsEnumerable();
public static IEnumerable<T> SingleItemAsEnumerable<T>(this T item)
{
yield return item;
}
}
Am I missing something here?
[Edit2] We found someObject.Yield()
(as @Peter suggested in the comments below) to be the best name for this extension method, mainly for brevity, so here it is along with the XML comment if anyone wants to grab it:
public static class IEnumerableExt
{
/// <summary>
/// Wraps this object instance into an IEnumerable<T>
/// consisting of a single item.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T"> Type of the object. </typeparam>
/// <param name="item"> The instance that will be wrapped. </param>
/// <returns> An IEnumerable<T> consisting of a single item. </returns>
public static IEnumerable<T> Yield<T>(this T item)
{
yield return item;
}
}
if (item == null) yield break;
Now you're stopped from passing null as well as taking advantage of the (trivial) null object pattern for IEnumerable
. (foreach (var x in xs)
handles an empty xs
just fine). Incidentally, this function is the monadic unit for the list monad that is IEnumerable<T>
, and given the monad love-fest at Microsoft I'm surprised something like this isn't in the framework in the first place.
AsEnumerable
because a built-in extension with that name already exists. (When T
implements IEnumerable
, e.g., string
.)
Yield
? Nothing beats brevity.
left==null
check here. It breaks the beauti of the code and stops the code being more flexable -- what if some day you turn out need to generate a singleton with something that can be null? I mean, new T[] { null }
is not the same as new T[] {}
, and some day you may need to distinguish them.
Well, if the method expects an IEnumerable
you've got to pass something that is a list, even if it contains one element only.
passing
new[] { item }
as the argument should be enough I think
In C# 3.0 you can utilize the System.Linq.Enumerable class:
// using System.Linq
Enumerable.Repeat(item, 1);
This will create a new IEnumerable that only contains your item.
Your helper method is the cleanest way to do it, IMO. If you pass in a list or an array, then an unscrupulous piece of code could cast it and change the contents, leading to odd behaviour in some situations. You could use a read-only collection, but that's likely to involve even more wrapping. I think your solution is as neat as it gets.
myDict.Keys.AsEnumerable()
where myDict
was of type Dictionary<CheckBox, Tuple<int, int>>
. After I renamed the extension method to SingleItemAsEnumerable
, everything started to work. Cannot convert IEnumerable<Dictionary<CheckBox,System.Tuple<int,int>>.KeyCollection>' to 'IEnumerable<CheckBox>'. An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?) I can live with a hack for a while, but can other power hackers find a better way?
dictionary.Values
to start with. Basically it's not clear what's going on, but I suggest you start a new question about it.
In C# 3 (I know you said 2), you can write a generic extension method which might make the syntax a little more acceptable:
static class IEnumerableExtensions
{
public static IEnumerable<T> ToEnumerable<T>(this T item)
{
yield return item;
}
}
client code is then item.ToEnumerable()
.
ToEnumerable
extension method for IObservable<T>
, so this method name also interferes with existing conventions. Honestly, I'd suggest not using an extension method at all, simply because it's too generic.
This helper method works for item or many.
public static IEnumerable<T> ToEnumerable<T>(params T[] items)
{
return items;
}
params
to build the array, so resulting code is clean-looking. Haven't decided whether I like it more or less than new T[]{ item1, item2, item3 };
for multiple items.
this
argument so won't be applied to an object, I think AsEnumerable
is a better name than ToEnumerable
.
I'm kind of surprised that no one suggested a new overload of the method with an argument of type T to simplify the client API.
public void DoSomething<T>(IEnumerable<T> list)
{
// Do Something
}
public void DoSomething<T>(T item)
{
DoSomething(new T[] { item });
}
Now your client code can just do this:
MyItem item = new MyItem();
Obj.DoSomething(item);
or with a list:
List<MyItem> itemList = new List<MyItem>();
Obj.DoSomething(itemList);
DoSomething<T>(params T[] items)
which means the compiler would handle the conversion from a single item to an array. (This would also allow you to pass in multiple separate items and, again, the compiler would handle converting them to an array for you.)
I agree with @EarthEngine's comments to the original post, which is that 'AsSingleton' is a better name. See this wikipedia entry. Then it follows from the definition of singleton that if a null value is passed as an argument that 'AsSingleton' should return an IEnumerable with a single null value instead of an empty IEnumerable which would settle the if (item == null) yield break;
debate. I think the best solution is to have two methods: 'AsSingleton' and 'AsSingletonOrEmpty'; where, in the event that a null is passed as an argument, 'AsSingleton' will return a single null value and 'AsSingletonOrEmpty' will return an empty IEnumerable. Like this:
public static IEnumerable<T> AsSingletonOrEmpty<T>(this T source)
{
if (source == null)
{
yield break;
}
else
{
yield return source;
}
}
public static IEnumerable<T> AsSingleton<T>(this T source)
{
yield return source;
}
Then, these would, more or less, be analogous to the 'First' and 'FirstOrDefault' extension methods on IEnumerable which just feels right.
public static IEnumerable<T> AsSingletonOrEmpty<T>(this T? source)
where T : notnull
Either (as has previously been said)
MyMethodThatExpectsAnIEnumerable(new[] { myObject });
or
MyMethodThatExpectsAnIEnumerable(Enumerable.Repeat(myObject, 1));
As a side note, the last version can also be nice if you want an empty list of an anonymous object, e.g.
var x = MyMethodThatExpectsAnIEnumerable(Enumerable.Repeat(new { a = 0, b = "x" }, 0));
As I have just found, and seen that user LukeH suggested too, a nice simple way of doing this is as follows:
public static void PerformAction(params YourType[] items)
{
// Forward call to IEnumerable overload
PerformAction(items.AsEnumerable());
}
public static void PerformAction(IEnumerable<YourType> items)
{
foreach (YourType item in items)
{
// Do stuff
}
}
This pattern will allow you to call the same functionality in a multitude of ways: a single item; multiple items (comma-separated); an array; a list; an enumeration, etc.
I'm not 100% sure on the efficiency of using the AsEnumerable method though, but it does work a treat.
Update: The AsEnumerable function looks pretty efficient! (reference)
.AsEnumerable()
at all. Array YourType[]
already implements IEnumerable<YourType>
. But my question was referring to the case when only the second method (in your example) is available, and you are using .NET 2.0, and you want to pass a single item.
IEnumerable<T> MakeEnumerable<T>(params T[] items) {return items;}
method? One could then use that with anything that expected an IEnumerable<T>
, for any number of discrete items. The code should be essentially as efficient as defining a special class to return a single item.
Although it's overkill for one method, I believe some people may find the Interactive Extensions useful.
The Interactive Extensions (Ix) from Microsoft includes the following method.
public static IEnumerable<TResult> Return<TResult>(TResult value)
{
yield return value;
}
Which can be utilized like so:
var result = EnumerableEx.Return(0);
Ix adds new functionality not found in the original Linq extension methods, and is a direct result of creating the Reactive Extensions (Rx).
Think, Linq Extension Methods
+ Ix
= Rx
for IEnumerable
.
You can find both Rx and Ix on CodePlex.
This is 30% faster than yield
or Enumerable.Repeat
when used in foreach
due to this C# compiler optimization, and of the same performance in other cases.
public struct SingleSequence<T> : IEnumerable<T> {
public struct SingleEnumerator : IEnumerator<T> {
private readonly SingleSequence<T> _parent;
private bool _couldMove;
public SingleEnumerator(ref SingleSequence<T> parent) {
_parent = parent;
_couldMove = true;
}
public T Current => _parent._value;
object IEnumerator.Current => Current;
public void Dispose() { }
public bool MoveNext() {
if (!_couldMove) return false;
_couldMove = false;
return true;
}
public void Reset() {
_couldMove = true;
}
}
private readonly T _value;
public SingleSequence(T value) {
_value = value;
}
public IEnumerator<T> GetEnumerator() {
return new SingleEnumerator(ref this);
}
IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator() {
return new SingleEnumerator(ref this);
}
}
in this test:
// Fastest among seqs, but still 30x times slower than direct sum
// 49 mops vs 37 mops for yield, or c.30% faster
[Test]
public void SingleSequenceStructForEach() {
var sw = new Stopwatch();
sw.Start();
long sum = 0;
for (var i = 0; i < 100000000; i++) {
foreach (var single in new SingleSequence<int>(i)) {
sum += single;
}
}
sw.Stop();
Console.WriteLine($"Elapsed {sw.ElapsedMilliseconds}");
Console.WriteLine($"Mops {100000.0 / sw.ElapsedMilliseconds * 1.0}");
}
new [] { i }
option is about 3.2 times faster then your option. Also your option is about 1.2 times faster then extension with yield return
.
SingleEnumerator GetEnumerator()
that returns your struct. The C# compiler will use this method (it looks it up via duck typing) instead of the interface ones and thus avoids boxing. Many built-in collections utilize this trick, like List. Note: this will only work when you have a direct refercne to SingleSequence
, like in your example. If you store it in an IEnumerable<>
variable then the trick won't work (the interface method will be used)
This may not be any better but it's kind of cool:
Enumerable.Range(0, 1).Select(i => item);
I recently asked the same thing on another post
I wanted people stopping by here to see the brief benchmark comparison shown at that newer post for 4 of the approaches presented in these answers.
It seems that simply writing new[] { x }
in the arguments to the method is the shortest and fastest solution.
Sometimes I do this, when I'm feeling impish:
"_".Select(_ => 3.14) // or whatever; any type is fine
This is the same thing with less shift key presses, heh:
from _ in "_" select 3.14
For a utility function I find this to be the least verbose, or at least more self-documenting than an array, although it'll let multiple values slide; as a plus it can be defined as a local function:
static IEnumerable<T> Enumerate (params T[] v) => v;
// usage:
IEnumerable<double> example = Enumerate(1.234);
Here are all of the other ways I was able to think of (runnable here):
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
public class Program {
public static IEnumerable<T> ToEnumerable1 <T> (T v) {
yield return v;
}
public static T[] ToEnumerable2 <T> (params T[] vs) => vs;
public static void Main () {
static IEnumerable<T> ToEnumerable3 <T> (params T[] v) => v;
p( new string[] { "three" } );
p( new List<string> { "three" } );
p( ToEnumerable1("three") ); // our utility function (yield return)
p( ToEnumerable2("three") ); // our utility function (params)
p( ToEnumerable3("three") ); // our local utility function (params)
p( Enumerable.Empty<string>().Append("three") );
p( Enumerable.Empty<string>().DefaultIfEmpty("three") );
p( Enumerable.Empty<string>().Prepend("three") );
p( Enumerable.Range(3, 1) ); // only for int
p( Enumerable.Range(0, 1).Select(_ => "three") );
p( Enumerable.Repeat("three", 1) );
p( "_".Select(_ => "three") ); // doesn't have to be "_"; just any one character
p( "_".Select(_ => 3.3333) );
p( from _ in "_" select 3.0f );
p( "a" ); // only for char
// these weren't available for me to test (might not even be valid):
// new Microsoft.Extensions.Primitives.StringValues("three")
}
static void p <T> (IEnumerable<T> e) =>
Console.WriteLine(string.Join(' ', e.Select((v, k) => $"[{k}]={v,-8}:{v.GetType()}").DefaultIfEmpty("<empty>")));
}
.Select(_ => 3.333)
.
The easiest way I'd say would be new T[]{item};
; there's no syntax to do this. The closest equivalent that I can think of is the params
keyword, but of course that requires you to have access to the method definition and is only usable with arrays.
Enumerable.Range(1,1).Select(_ => {
//Do some stuff... side effects...
return item;
});
The above code is useful when using like
var existingOrNewObject = MyData.Where(myCondition)
.Concat(Enumerable.Range(1,1).Select(_ => {
//Create my object...
return item;
})).Take(1).First();
In the above code snippet there is no empty/null check, and it is guaranteed to have only one object returned without afraid of exceptions. Furthermore, because it is lazy, the closure will not be executed until it is proved there is no existing data fits the criteria.
MyData.Where(myCondition)
is empty, that's already possible (and simpler) with DefaultIfEmpty()
: var existingOrNewObject = MyData.Where(myCondition).DefaultIfEmpty(defaultValue).First();
. That can be further simplified to var existingOrNewObject = MyData.FirstOrDefault(myCondition);
if you want default(T)
and not a custom value.
To be filed under "Not necessarily a good solution, but still...a solution" or "Stupid LINQ tricks", you could combine Enumerable.Empty<>()
with Enumerable.Append<>()
...
IEnumerable<string> singleElementEnumerable = Enumerable.Empty<string>().Append("Hello, World!");
...or Enumerable.Prepend<>()
...
IEnumerable<string> singleElementEnumerable = Enumerable.Empty<string>().Prepend("Hello, World!");
The latter two methods are available since .NET Framework 4.7.1 and .NET Core 1.0.
This is a workable solution if one were really intent on using existing methods instead of writing their own, though I'm undecided if this is more or less clear than the Enumerable.Repeat<>()
solution. This is definitely longer code (partly due to type parameter inference not being possible for Empty<>()
) and creates twice as many enumerator objects, however.
Rounding out this "Did you know these methods exist?" answer, Array.Empty<>()
could be substituted for Enumerable.Empty<>()
, but it's hard to argue that makes the situation...better.
I'm a bit late to the party but I'll share my way anyway. My problem was that I wanted to bind the ItemSource or a WPF TreeView to a single object. The hierarchy looks like this:
Project > Plot(s) > Room(s)
There was always going to be only one Project but I still wanted to Show the project in the Tree, without having to pass a Collection with only that one object in it like some suggested. Since you can only pass IEnumerable objects as ItemSource I decided to make my class IEnumerable:
public class ProjectClass : IEnumerable<ProjectClass>
{
private readonly SingleItemEnumerator<AufmassProjekt> enumerator;
...
public IEnumerator<ProjectClass > GetEnumerator() => this.enumerator;
IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator() => this.GetEnumerator();
}
And create my own Enumerator accordingly:
public class SingleItemEnumerator : IEnumerator
{
private bool hasMovedOnce;
public SingleItemEnumerator(object current)
{
this.Current = current;
}
public bool MoveNext()
{
if (this.hasMovedOnce) return false;
this.hasMovedOnce = true;
return true;
}
public void Reset()
{ }
public object Current { get; }
}
public class SingleItemEnumerator<T> : IEnumerator<T>
{
private bool hasMovedOnce;
public SingleItemEnumerator(T current)
{
this.Current = current;
}
public void Dispose() => (this.Current as IDisposable).Dispose();
public bool MoveNext()
{
if (this.hasMovedOnce) return false;
this.hasMovedOnce = true;
return true;
}
public void Reset()
{ }
public T Current { get; }
object IEnumerator.Current => this.Current;
}
This is probably not the "cleanest" solution but it worked for me.
EDIT
To uphold the single responsibility principle as @Groo pointed out I created a new wrapper class:
public class SingleItemWrapper : IEnumerable
{
private readonly SingleItemEnumerator enumerator;
public SingleItemWrapper(object item)
{
this.enumerator = new SingleItemEnumerator(item);
}
public object Item => this.enumerator.Current;
public IEnumerator GetEnumerator() => this.enumerator;
}
public class SingleItemWrapper<T> : IEnumerable<T>
{
private readonly SingleItemEnumerator<T> enumerator;
public SingleItemWrapper(T item)
{
this.enumerator = new SingleItemEnumerator<T>(item);
}
public T Item => this.enumerator.Current;
public IEnumerator<T> GetEnumerator() => this.enumerator;
IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator() => this.GetEnumerator();
}
Which I used like this
TreeView.ItemSource = new SingleItemWrapper(itemToWrap);
EDIT 2
I corrected a mistake with the MoveNext()
method.
SingleItemEnumerator<T>
class makes sense, but making a class a "single item IEnumerable
of itself" seems like a violation of the single responsibility principle. Perhaps it makes passing it around more practical, but I would still prefer to wrap it as needed.
I prefer
public static IEnumerable<T> Collect<T>(this T item, params T[] otherItems)
{
yield return item;
foreach (var otherItem in otherItems)
{
yield return otherItem;
}
}
This lets you call item.Collect()
if you want the singleton, but it also lets you call item.Collect(item2, item3)
if you want
Success story sharing
new[]{ item }
myself, I just thought that was an interesting solution.