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.NET Framework Class Library
IEnumerable Interface

Exposes the enumerator, which supports a simple iteration over a non-generic collection.

Namespace: System.Collections
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Syntax
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _
<GuidAttribute("496B0ABE-CDEE-11d3-88E8-00902754C43A")> _
Public Interface IEnumerable
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
[GuidAttribute("496B0ABE-CDEE-11d3-88E8-00902754C43A")]
public interface IEnumerable
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
[GuidAttribute(L"496B0ABE-CDEE-11d3-88E8-00902754C43A")]
public interface class IEnumerable
[<ComVisibleAttribute(true)>]
[<GuidAttribute("496B0ABE-CDEE-11d3-88E8-00902754C43A")>]
type IEnumerable =  interface end

The IEnumerable type exposes the following members.

Methods
 NameDescription
Public methodSupported by the XNA FrameworkSupported by Portable Class LibraryGetEnumeratorReturns an enumerator that iterates through a collection.
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Extension Methods
 NameDescription
Public Extension MethodAsParallelEnables parallelization of a query. (Defined by ParallelEnumerable.)
Public Extension MethodSupported by Portable Class LibraryAsQueryableConverts an IEnumerable to an IQueryable. (Defined by Queryable.)
Public Extension MethodSupported by the XNA FrameworkSupported by Portable Class LibraryCast<(Of <(TResult>)>)Converts the elements of an IEnumerable to the specified type. (Defined by Enumerable.)
Public Extension MethodSupported by the XNA FrameworkSupported by Portable Class LibraryOfType<(Of <(TResult>)>)Filters the elements of an IEnumerable based on a specified type. (Defined by Enumerable.)
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Remarks

For the generic version of this interface see System.Collections.Generic..::.IEnumerable<(Of <(T>)>).

Notes to Implementers

IEnumerable must be implemented to support the foreach semantics of Microsoft Visual Basic. COM classes that allow enumerators also implement this interface.

Examples

The following code example demonstrates the implementation of the IEnumerable and IEnumerator interfaces for a custom collection. In this example, members of these interfaces are not explicitly called, but they are implemented to support the use of foreach (For Each in Visual Basic) to iterate through the collection.


Imports System
Imports System.Collections

Public Class Person

    Public Sub New(ByVal fName As String, ByVal lName As String)
        Me.firstName = fName
        Me.lastName = lName
    End Sub


    Public firstName As String
    Public lastName As String
End Class

Public Class People
    Implements IEnumerable

    Private _people() As Person

    Public Sub New(ByVal pArray() As Person)
        _people = New Person(pArray.Length - 1) {}

        Dim i As Integer
        For i = 0 To pArray.Length - 1
            _people(i) = pArray(i)
        Next i
    End Sub

    Public Function GetEnumerator() As IEnumerator _
      Implements IEnumerable.GetEnumerator

        Return New PeopleEnum(_people)
    End Function

End Class

Public Class PeopleEnum
    Implements IEnumerator

    Public _people() As Person

    ' Enumerators are positioned before the first element
    ' until the first MoveNext() call.
    Dim position As Integer = -1

    Public Sub New(ByVal list() As Person)
        _people = list
    End Sub

    Public Function MoveNext() As Boolean Implements IEnumerator.MoveNext
        position = position + 1
        Return (position < _people.Length)
    End Function

    Public Sub Reset() Implements IEnumerator.Reset
        position = -1
    End Sub

    Public ReadOnly Property Current() As Object Implements IEnumerator.Current
        Get
            Try
                Return _people(position)
            Catch ex As IndexOutOfRangeException
                Throw New InvalidOperationException()
            End Try
        End Get
    End Property
End Class

Class App
    Shared Sub Main()
        Dim peopleArray() As Person = { _
            New Person("John", "Smith"), _
            New Person("Jim", "Johnson"), _
            New Person("Sue", "Rabon")}

        Dim peopleList As New People(peopleArray)
        Dim p As Person
        For Each p In peopleList
            Console.WriteLine(p.firstName + " " + p.lastName)
        Next

    End Sub
End Class

' This code produces output similar to the following:
' 
' John Smith
' Jim Johnson
' Sue Rabon



using System;
using System.Collections;

public class Person
{
    public Person(string fName, string lName)
    {
        this.firstName = fName;
        this.lastName = lName;
    }

    public string firstName;
    public string lastName;
}

public class People : IEnumerable
{
    private Person[] _people;
    public People(Person[] pArray)
    {
        _people = new Person[pArray.Length];

        for (int i = 0; i < pArray.Length; i++)
        {
            _people[i] = pArray[i];
        }
    }

    IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
    {
       return (IEnumerator) GetEnumerator();
    }

    public PeopleEnum GetEnumerator()
    {
        return new PeopleEnum(_people);
    }
}

public class PeopleEnum : IEnumerator
{
    public Person[] _people;

    // Enumerators are positioned before the first element
    // until the first MoveNext() call.
    int position = -1;

    public PeopleEnum(Person[] list)
    {
        _people = list;
    }

    public bool MoveNext()
    {
        position++;
        return (position < _people.Length);
    }

    public void Reset()
    {
        position = -1;
    }

    object IEnumerator.Current
    {
        get
        {
            return Current;
        }
    }

    public Person Current
    {
        get
        {
            try
            {
                return _people[position];
            }
            catch (IndexOutOfRangeException)
            {
                throw new InvalidOperationException();
            }
        }
    }
}

class App
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Person[] peopleArray = new Person[3]
        {
            new Person("John", "Smith"),
            new Person("Jim", "Johnson"),
            new Person("Sue", "Rabon"),
        };

        People peopleList = new People(peopleArray);
        foreach (Person p in peopleList)
            Console.WriteLine(p.firstName + " " + p.lastName);

    }
}

/* This code produces output similar to the following:
 *
 * John Smith
 * Jim Johnson
 * Sue Rabon
 *
 */

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

Portable Class Library

Supported in: Portable Class Library
Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
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