This documentation is archived and is not being maintained.

Predicate(Of T) Delegate

Represents the method that defines a set of criteria and determines whether the specified object meets those criteria.

Namespace:  System
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

'Declaration
Public Delegate Function Predicate(Of T) ( _
	obj As T _
) As Boolean
'Usage
Dim instance As New Predicate(Of T)(AddressOf HandlerMethod)

Type Parameters

T

The type of the object to compare.

Parameters

obj
Type: T

The object to compare against the criteria defined within the method represented by this delegate.

Return Value

Type: System.Boolean
true if obj meets the criteria defined within the method represented by this delegate; otherwise, false.

This delegate is used by several methods of the Array and List(Of T) classes to search for elements in the collection.

The following code example uses a Predicate(Of T) delegate with the Array.Find(Of T) method to search an array of Point structures. The method the delegate represents, ProductGT10, returns true if the product of the X and Y fields is greater than 100,000. The Find(Of T) method calls the delegate for each element of the array, stopping at the first point that meets the test condition.

NoteNote:

Visual Basic and C# users do not need to create the delegate explicitly, or to specify the type argument of the generic method. The compilers determine the necessary types from the method arguments you supply.

Imports System
Imports System.Drawing

Public Class Example

    Public Shared Sub Main()

        ' Create an array of five Point structures. 
        Dim points() As Point = { new Point(100, 200), _
            new Point(150, 250), new Point(250, 375), _
            new Point(275, 395), new Point(295, 450) }

        ' To find the first Point structure for which X times Y  
        ' is greater than 100000, pass the array and a delegate  
        ' that represents the ProductGT10 method to the Shared 
        ' Find method of the Array class. 
        Dim first As Point = Array.Find(points, _
            AddressOf ProductGT10)

        ' Note that you do not need to create the delegate  
        ' explicitly, or to specify the type parameter of the  
        ' generic method, because the compiler has enough 
        ' context to determine that information for you. 

        ' Display the first structure found.
        Console.WriteLine("Found: X = {0}, Y = {1}", _
            first.X, first.Y)
    End Sub 

    ' This method implements the test condition for the Find 
    ' method. 
    Private Shared Function ProductGT10(ByVal p As Point) As Boolean 
        If p.X * p.Y > 100000 Then 
            Return True 
        Else 
            Return False 
        End If 
    End Function 
End Class 

' This code example produces the following output: 

'Found: X = 275, Y = 395

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

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 2.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.0
Show: