You can also use the Item property to add new elements by setting the value of a key that does not exist in the dictionary (for example, myCollection["myNonexistentKey"] = myValue). However, if the specified key already exists in the dictionary, setting the Item property overwrites the old value. In contrast, the Add method does not modify existing elements.

Implementations can vary in whether they allow the key to be nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

The following code example demonstrates how to implement the Add method. This code example is part of a larger example provided for the IDictionary class.

Public Sub Add(ByVal key As Object, ByVal value As Object) Implements IDictionary.Add

    ' Add the new key/value pair even if this key already exists in the dictionary.
    If ItemsInUse = items.Length Then
        Throw New InvalidOperationException("The dictionary cannot hold any more items.")
    End If
    items(ItemsInUse) = New DictionaryEntry(key, value)
    ItemsInUse = ItemsInUse + 1
End Sub

public void Add(object key, object value) 
{
    // Add the new key/value pair even if this key already exists in the dictionary.
    if (ItemsInUse == items.Length)
        throw new InvalidOperationException("The dictionary cannot hold any more items.");
    items[ItemsInUse++] = new DictionaryEntry(key, value);
}

public:
    virtual void Add(Object^ key, Object^ value)
    {
        // Add the new key/value pair even if this key already exists
        // in the dictionary.
        if (itemsInUse == items->Length)
        {
            throw gcnew InvalidOperationException
                ("The dictionary cannot hold any more items.");
        }
        items[itemsInUse++] = gcnew DictionaryEntry(key, value);
    }

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

.NET Framework

.NET Compact Framework

XNA Framework

Reference