How to: Create a Collection Used by a Collection Initializer (Visual Basic)
Visual Studio 2010
When you use a collection initializer to create a collection, the Visual Basic compiler searches for an Add method of the collection type for which the parameters for the Add method match the types of the values in the collection initializer. This Add method is used to populate the collection with the values from the collection initializer.
The following example shows an OrderCollection collection that contains a public Add method that a collection initializer can use to add objects of type Order. The Add method enables you to use the shortened collection initializer syntax.
Public Class Customer Public Property Id As Integer Public Property Name As String Public Property Orders As OrderCollection Public Sub New(ByVal id As Integer, ByVal name As String, ByVal orders As OrderCollection) Me.Id = id Me.Name = name Me.Orders = orders End Sub End Class Public Class Order Public Property Id As Integer Public Property CustomerId As Integer Public Property OrderDate As DateTime Public Sub New(ByVal id As Integer, ByVal customerId As Integer, ByVal orderDate As DateTime) Me.Id = id Me.CustomerId = customerId Me.OrderDate = orderDate End Sub End Class
Public Class OrderCollection Implements IEnumerable(Of Order) Dim items As New List(Of Order) Public Property Item(ByVal index As Integer) As Order Get Return CType(Me(index), Order) End Get Set(ByVal value As Order) items(index) = value End Set End Property Public Sub Add(ByVal id As Integer, ByVal customerID As Integer, ByVal orderDate As DateTime) items.Add(New Order(id, customerID, orderDate)) End Sub Public Function GetEnumerator() As IEnumerator(Of Order) Implements IEnumerable(Of Order).GetEnumerator Return items.GetEnumerator() End Function Public Function GetEnumerator1() As IEnumerator Implements IEnumerable.GetEnumerator Return Me.GetEnumerator() End Function End Class
Imports System.Runtime.CompilerServices Module Module1 <Extension()> Sub Add(ByVal genericList As List(Of Customer), ByVal id As Integer, ByVal name As String, ByVal orders As OrderCollection) genericList.Add(New Customer(id, name, orders)) End Sub End Module
Dim customerList = New List(Of Customer) From { {1, "John Rodman", New OrderCollection From {{9, 1, #6/12/2008#}, {8, 1, #6/11/2008#}, {5, 1, #5/1/2008#}}}, {2, "Ariane Berthier", New OrderCollection From {{2, 2, #1/18/2008#}, {4, 2, #3/8/2008#}, {6, 2, #3/18/2008#}, {7, 2, #5/14/2008#}, {5, 2, #4/4/2008#}}}, {3, "Brian Perry", New OrderCollection From {{1, 3, #1/15/2008#}, {3, 3, #3/8/2008#}}} }