Part 65 – C# Tutorial – Indexers in c#

Tags
c# indexer syntax
visual studio indexer
c# indexer example
indexer in c sharp
c# indexer this
c# indexer declaration
c# indexer property
c# use object as array

The HTML and the code used in the demo, can be found at the link below.

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Please watch Part 64, before proceeding with this video.

In this video we will discuss about creating indexers. Let us understand indexers with an example. Create an asp.net web application. Add a class file, with name = Company.cs. Copy and paste the following code.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;

namespace Demo
{
public class Employee
{
public int EmployeeId { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Gender { get; set; }
}

public class Company
{
// Replace square brackets with angular brackets
private List[Employee] listEmployees;

public Company()
{
// Replace square brackets with angular brackets
listEmployees = new List[Employee]();

listEmployees.Add(new Employee
{ EmployeeId = 1, Name = “Mike”, Gender = “Male” });
listEmployees.Add(new Employee
{ EmployeeId = 2, Name = “Pam”, Gender = “Female” });
listEmployees.Add(new Employee
{ EmployeeId = 3, Name = “John”, Gender = “Male” });
listEmployees.Add(new Employee
{ EmployeeId = 4, Name = “Maxine”, Gender = “Female” });
listEmployees.Add(new Employee
{ EmployeeId = 5, Name = “Emiliy”, Gender = “Female” });
listEmployees.Add(new Employee
{ EmployeeId = 6, Name = “Scott”, Gender = “Male” });
listEmployees.Add(new Employee
{ EmployeeId = 7, Name = “Todd”, Gender = “Male” });
listEmployees.Add(new Employee
{ EmployeeId = 8, Name = “Ben”, Gender = “Male” });
}

// Use “this” keyword to create an indexer
// This indexer takes employeeId as parameter
// and returns employee name
public string this[int employeeId]
{
// Just like properties indexers have get and set accessors
get
{
// Replace “]” with GREATERTHAN symbol
return listEmployees.
FirstOrDefault(x =] x.EmployeeId == employeeId).Name;
}
set
{
// Replace “]” with GREATERTHAN symbol
listEmployees.
FirstOrDefault(x =] x.EmployeeId == employeeId).Name = value;
}
}
}
}

Points to remember:
1. In the Company class constructor, we are initializing variable “listEmployees” and adding employees to the list.
2. We then created an indexer using “this” keyword. This indexer takes employeeId as parameter and returns employee name.
3. Just like properties indexers have get and set accessors.
public string this[int employeeId]
4. Indexers can also be overloaded. We will discuss about indexer overloading in our next video.

Now let’s discuss about, using the indexer, that we just created. Copy and paste the following code in WebForm1.aspx.cs
Company company = new Company();
Response.Write(“Name of Employee with Id = 2: ” + company[2]);
Response.Write(“Name of Employee with Id = 5: ” + company[5]);
Response.Write(“Name of Employee with Id = 8: ” + company[8]);

Response.Write(“Changing names of employees with Id = 2,5,8”);

company[2] = “Employee 2 Name Changed”;
company[5] = “Employee 5 Name Changed”;
company[8] = “Employee 8 Name Changed”;

Response.Write(“Name of Employee with Id = 2: ” + company[2]);
Response.Write(“Name of Employee with Id = 5: ” + company[5]);
Response.Write(“Name of Employee with Id = 8: ” + company[8]);

Points to remember:
1. EmployeeId’s 2,5 and 8 are passed into the company object, to retrieve the respective employee names. To retrieve the names of the employees, the “get” accessor of the indexer is used.
2. To change the names of employees, we are again using the integral indexer defined on Company class.
company[2] = “Employee 2 Name Changed”;

Notice that, because of the “employeeId” indexer, I am able to use company object like an array.