Microsoft Developer Network
 ToArray Method (Type)
.NET Framework Class Library
ArrayList..::.ToArray Method (Type)

Copies the elements of the ArrayList to a new array of the specified element type.

Namespace:  System.Collections
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Visual Basic (Declaration)
Public Overridable Function ToArray ( _
    type As Type _
) As Array
Visual Basic (Usage)
Dim instance As ArrayList
Dim type As Type
Dim returnValue As Array

returnValue = instance.ToArray(type)
C#
public virtual Array ToArray(
    Type type
)
Visual C++
public:
virtual Array^ ToArray(
    Type^ type
)
JScript
public function ToArray(
    type : Type
) : Array

Parameters

type
Type: System..::.Type
The element Type of the destination array to create and copy elements to.

Return Value

Type: System..::.Array
An array of the specified element type containing copies of the elements of the ArrayList.
ExceptionCondition
ArgumentNullException

type is nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

InvalidCastException

The type of the source ArrayList cannot be cast automatically to the specified type.

All of the objects in the ArrayList object will be cast to the Type specified in the type parameter.

The elements are copied using Array..::.Copy, which is an O(n) operation, where n is Count.

The following copy example shows how to copy the elements of an ArrayList to a string array.

Visual Basic
Imports System
Imports System.Collections

Public Class SamplesArrayList

    Public Shared Sub Main()

        ' Creates and initializes a new ArrayList.
        Dim myAL As New ArrayList()
        myAL.Add("The")
        myAL.Add("quick")
        myAL.Add("brown")
        myAL.Add("fox")
        myAL.Add("jumped")
        myAL.Add("over")
        myAL.Add("the")
        myAL.Add("lazy")
        myAL.Add("dog")

        ' Displays the values of the ArrayList.
        Console.WriteLine("The ArrayList contains the following values:")
        PrintIndexAndValues(myAL)

        ' Copies the elements of the ArrayList to a string array.
        Dim myArr As String() = CType(myAL.ToArray(GetType(String)), String())

        ' Displays the contents of the string array.
        Console.WriteLine("The string array contains the following values:")
        PrintIndexAndValues(myArr)

    End Sub 'Main

    Overloads Public Shared Sub PrintIndexAndValues(myList As ArrayList)
        Dim i As Integer = 0
        Dim o As [Object]
        For Each o In  myList
            Console.WriteLine("        [{0}]:    {1}", i, o)
            i = i + 1
        Next o
        Console.WriteLine()
    End Sub 'PrintIndexAndValues

    Overloads Public Shared Sub PrintIndexAndValues(myArr() As String)
        Dim i As Integer
        For i = 0 To myArr.Length - 1
            Console.WriteLine("        [{0}]:    {1}", i, myArr(i))
        Next i
        Console.WriteLine()
    End Sub 'PrintIndexAndValues

End Class 'SamplesArrayList


'This code produces the following output.
'
'The ArrayList contains the following values:
'        [0]:    The
'        [1]:    quick
'        [2]:    brown
'        [3]:    fox
'        [4]:    jumped
'        [5]:    over
'        [6]:    the
'        [7]:    lazy
'        [8]:    dog
'
'The string array contains the following values:
'        [0]:    The
'        [1]:    quick
'        [2]:    brown
'        [3]:    fox
'        [4]:    jumped
'        [5]:    over
'        [6]:    the
'        [7]:    lazy
'        [8]:    dog
C#
using System;
using System.Collections;

public class SamplesArrayList  {

   public static void Main()  {

      // Creates and initializes a new ArrayList.
      ArrayList myAL = new ArrayList();
      myAL.Add( "The" );
      myAL.Add( "quick" );
      myAL.Add( "brown" );
      myAL.Add( "fox" );
      myAL.Add( "jumped" );
      myAL.Add( "over" );
      myAL.Add( "the" );
      myAL.Add( "lazy" );
      myAL.Add( "dog" );

      // Displays the values of the ArrayList.
      Console.WriteLine( "The ArrayList contains the following values:" );
      PrintIndexAndValues( myAL );

      // Copies the elements of the ArrayList to a string array.
      String[] myArr = (String[]) myAL.ToArray( typeof( string ) );

      // Displays the contents of the string array.
      Console.WriteLine( "The string array contains the following values:" );
      PrintIndexAndValues( myArr );

   }

   public static void PrintIndexAndValues( ArrayList myList )  {
      int i = 0;
      foreach ( Object o in myList )
         Console.WriteLine( "\t[{0}]:\t{1}", i++, o );
      Console.WriteLine();
   }

   public static void PrintIndexAndValues( String[] myArr )  {
      for ( int i = 0; i < myArr.Length; i++ )
         Console.WriteLine( "\t[{0}]:\t{1}", i, myArr[i] );
      Console.WriteLine();
   }
}


/* 
This code produces the following output.

The ArrayList contains the following values:
        [0]:    The
        [1]:    quick
        [2]:    brown
        [3]:    fox
        [4]:    jumped
        [5]:    over
        [6]:    the
        [7]:    lazy
        [8]:    dog

The string array contains the following values:
        [0]:    The
        [1]:    quick
        [2]:    brown
        [3]:    fox
        [4]:    jumped
        [5]:    over
        [6]:    the
        [7]:    lazy
        [8]:    dog

*/
Visual C++
using namespace System;
using namespace System::Collections;
void PrintIndexAndValues( ArrayList^ myList );
void PrintIndexAndValues( array<String^>^myArr );
int main()
{
   // Creates and initializes a new ArrayList.
   ArrayList^ myAL = gcnew ArrayList;
   myAL->Add( "The" );
   myAL->Add( "quick" );
   myAL->Add( "brown" );
   myAL->Add( "fox" );
   myAL->Add( "jumped" );
   myAL->Add( "over" );
   myAL->Add( "the" );
   myAL->Add( "lazy" );
   myAL->Add( "dog" );

   // Displays the values of the ArrayList.
   Console::WriteLine( "The ArrayList contains the following values:" );
   PrintIndexAndValues( myAL );

   // Copies the elements of the ArrayList to a string array.
   array<String^>^myArr = reinterpret_cast<array<String^>^>(myAL->ToArray( String::typeid ));

   // Displays the contents of the string array.
   Console::WriteLine( "The string array contains the following values:" );
   PrintIndexAndValues( myArr );
}

void PrintIndexAndValues( ArrayList^ myList )
{
   int i = 0;
   IEnumerator^ myEnum = myList->GetEnumerator();
   while ( myEnum->MoveNext() )
   {
      Object^ o = safe_cast<Object^>(myEnum->Current);
      Console::WriteLine( "\t[{0}]:\t{1}", i++, o );
   }

   Console::WriteLine();
}

void PrintIndexAndValues( array<String^>^myArr )
{
   for ( int i = 0; i < myArr->Length; i++ )
      Console::WriteLine( "\t[{0}]:\t{1}", i, myArr[ i ] );
   Console::WriteLine();
}

/* 
This code produces the following output.

The ArrayList contains the following values:
        [0]:    The
        [1]:    quick
        [2]:    brown
        [3]:    fox
        [4]:    jumped
        [5]:    over
        [6]:    the
        [7]:    lazy
        [8]:    dog

The string array contains the following values:
        [0]:    The
        [1]:    quick
        [2]:    brown
        [3]:    fox
        [4]:    jumped
        [5]:    over
        [6]:    the
        [7]:    lazy
        [8]:    dog

*/

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune

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

.NET Framework

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

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 2.0, 1.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.0
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