Relation between class attributes and variables.

Question

Hi guys I'm just getting used to OOP and classes etc. I'm really confusing myself. I have some .csv which contains the column titles (FirstName SecondName Address) I wish to make a class called Person for each row. This would obviously allow me to store Person.FirstName etc. This bit is fine. My problem comes because other .csvs have these columns in different order e.g (SecondName FirstName Address) I want to be able to identify which column is SecondName e.g Column 1 or 2? and then assign this to the Person class accordingly. I am unsure of the best way to go about referencing column number and the person class. I hope this makes sense and I appreciate all help :) Many Thanks

Master Billa · Answer

Hi I would like to recommend this book http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=8R451rZJ5o0C&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166&dq=between+class+attributes+and+variables+in+C%23&source=bl&ots=dO12haDLnQ&sig=1Pg_2H021VlW-lkB3PS-6fYUJ0k&hl=en&ei=jki6SpeIEoz66gODpqydAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6 thank you

Nir Bar · Answer

What you should do is derive from DataTable. Your inherited class should have the columns you want (FirstName SecondName ...) Your Person class should Derive from DataRow and have properties that get/set values from the columns of the row something like (I didn't try to compile it): public class Person : DataRow { String FirstName{ get{ return this[FirstName] as String; } set{ this[FirstName] = value; } } } Regarding how to populate the table - you can find some ready-made solutions on the web. Please mark this as answer if it helps you Nir