Custom array index. [c#]

[Markus]

In PHP we can do this to use a custom array index:

$array = array("my_index" => "my_index's value");

and access it by:

echo $array['my_index'];

I've had a look around, but I can't seem to find a way of doing this in C#.

Is it possible to do that?

[tlhintoq]

'Custom' index?

I'm not sure what you mean by a 'custom' index. Is this somehow different than a regular array index?

            int myIndex = 2;
            string[] myStringArray = { "Alpha", "Bravo", "Charlie" };
            Console.WriteLine(myStringArray[myIndex]); // Should produce "Charlie" sine arrays are zero indexed

[mldisibio]

I think these are called "associativ e arrays" where the index is named. No, you cannot do that with CLR arrays (out of the box), but you can achieve close to the same with a Hashtable:

Hashtable array = new Hashtable();
array.Add("my_index", "my_index's value");
Console.WriteLine(array["my_index"]);

Also, a generic Dictionary<stri ng, string> and several other collection types will do it.
Another option is to write your own Collection<T> and add a custom Indexer which accepts a string index value instead of the default int.

[Plater]

Yeah, the Dictionary object is your ticket.
If you just want a string index, the NameValueCollec tion might be more usefull.
Its roughly just Dictionary<stri ng,string>
Dictionary<stri ng,object> is roughly what is used for the Session(and Application) object collection in web applications

[Markus]

Thanks for that, guys.