Get object in Collection by Name

Question

I have the following classses: Item Property :String Name +10 other Properties Items ~ able to add & remove Item Objects as needed and access an Item object by using the following syntax myCollectionOfItems[0].name. My question is How can I access the item in this collection by entering the Name property and not the Index that it was placed in the Items Collection? I want to be able to enter myCollectionOfItems[NameOfItem] and have it return that Item Object. I want to access it similar to a datarow where you can either enter in the index or the string name of the column you want to access. Any Ideas????

jemmys · Answer

Here is some sample code to do what you want: TestCollection is derived from CollectionBase which is what I am assuming your collection class does as well. CollectionObject is a simple object which has a name and a value. The code in the Main function shows how you can access CollectionObjects in the TestCollection by name. class TestCollection : CollectionBase { public CollectionObject this[string name] { get { foreach (CollectionObject o in List) { if (o.Name == name) { return o; } } return null; } } public void Add(CollectionObject co) { List.Add(co); } static void Main(string[] args) { TestCollection collection = new TestCollection(); collection.Add(new CollectionObject(name1 value1)); collection.Add(new CollectionObject(name2 value2)); collection.Add(new CollectionObject(name3 value3)); collection.Add(new CollectionObject(name4 value4)); Console.WriteLine(Value of name1:  + collection[name1].Value); Console.WriteLine(Value of name2: + collection[name2].Value); Console.WriteLine(Value of name3:  + collection[name3].Value); Console.WriteLine(Value of name4:  + collection[name4].Value); Console.ReadKey(); } } public class CollectionObject { private string name; private string value; public CollectionObject(string name string value) { this.name = name; this.value = value; } public string Name { get { return name; } set { name = value; } } public string Value { get { return value; } set { this.value = value; } } }