Array Sequence Validation

Question

Below I have an array, Im trying to come up with a unique linq or unique slick way to do this to validate My State Field or State Array. The correct sequence is On/Off , On/Off.

The last entry must always be an Off.

The sequence can not be an Off/Off, Off/On, On/On. If my array has an invalid entry I want to do something. Can someone assist me.

Correct Array Below:

TStamp	State
1:05	On
1:10	Off
1:15	On
1:20	Off
1:25	On
1:30	Off

Wrong Array Below:

TStamp	State
1:05	On
1:10	On
1:15	On
1:20	Off
1:25	On
1:30	Off

Vulpes · Answer

The following uses regular expressions rather than LINQ though it's the not the usual way one would validate such a sequence: using System; using System.Text.RegularExpressions; class Test { static void Main() { string[] state1 = {"On", "Off", "On", "Off", "On", "Off"}; string[] state2 = {"On", "On", "On", "Off", "On", "Off"}; Console.WriteLine(Validate(state1)); // True Console.WriteLine(Validate(state2)); // False Console.ReadKey(); } static bool Validate(string[] state) { string text = String.Join("", state); string regExp = "^(OnOff)+$"; return Regex.IsMatch(text, regExp); } } It can, of course, be easily turned into a one-liner if that's what's needed: bool isValid = Regex.IsMatch ( String.Join("", state), "^(OnOff)+$");

Vulpes · Answer

Try this revised version: using System; using System.Linq; using System.Text.RegularExpressions; class Test { static void Main() { string[] ArrayElement = new string[6]; ArrayElement[0]= "1:05:00 PM 06/25/2013 On"; ArrayElement[1]= "1:10:00 PM 06/25/2013 Off"; ArrayElement[2]= "1:15:00 PM 06/25/2013 On"; ArrayElement[3]= "1:20:00 PM 06/25/2013 Off"; ArrayElement[4]= "1:25:00 PM 06/25/2013 On"; ArrayElement[5]= "1:30:00 PM 06/25/2013 Off"; Console.WriteLine(Validate(ArrayElement)); // True ArrayElement[2]= "1:15:00 PM 05/25/2013 On"; Console.WriteLine(Validate(ArrayElement)); // False Console.ReadKey(); } static bool Validate(string[] state) { string f = "h:mm:ss tt MM/dd/yyyy"; // extract time stamps and make sure they're in sequence DateTime[] stamps = state .Select(s => DateTime.ParseExact(s.Substring(0, s.LastIndexOf(" ")), f, null)).ToArray(); for(int i = 1; i { if(stamps[i] } // extract On/Off's and validate them state = state.Select(s => s.Substring(s.IndexOf("O"))).ToArray(); string text = String.Join("", state); string regExp = "^(OnOff)+$"; return Regex.IsMatch(text, regExp); } }

David Smith · Answer

Add a few more things to the logic. Vuples, I left something out. The State Array will also contain a tStamp and State concatenated together. The format will like this below. ArrayElement[0]= "1:05:00 PM 06/25/2013 On" ArrayElement[1]= "1:10:00 PM 06/25/2013 Off" ArrayElement[2]= "1:15:00 PM 06/25/2013 On" ArrayElement[3]= "1:20:00 PM 06/25/2013 Off" ArrayElement[4]= "1:25:00 PM 06/25/2013 On" ArrayElement[5]= "1:30:00 PM 06/25/2013 Off" So how to modify regex and logic to account for the entire string logic base upon the array above static bool Validate(string[] state) { string text = String.Join("", state); string regExp = "^(OnOff)+$"; return Regex.IsMatch(text, regExp); } Lastly, Since the goal is to really add up the time an object has been off, I need to add in some logic to do something if a cycle or element gets corrupt. A complete cycle is On/Off. At the moment your function is only validating whether is the Array has a complete On/Off Cycle. Let me give an example of an invalid array. The array is been initialized from an input file. Invalid Array Example: ArrayElement[2] data can't be calculated because, the timestamp is not in range, if that make sense. So if a case like that were to happen, I want to do something, so I am trying to come up with a linq that will account for a perfect sequence and Perfect timestamp sequence. ArrayElement[0]= "1:05:00 PM 06/25/2013 On" ArrayElement[1]= "1:10:00 PM 06/25/2013 Off" ArrayElement[2]= "1:15:00 PM 05/25/2013 On" ArrayElement[3]= "1:20:00 PM 06/25/2013 Off" ArrayElement[4]= "1:25:00 PM 06/25/2013 On" ArrayElement[5]= "1:30:00 PM 06/25/2013 Off"

Hemant Srivastava · Answer

Is there any condition on starting state.. I mean, starting state must be 'ON' or it could be 'OFF'.

Array Sequence Validation

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