IDictionary Interface

[This documentation is for preview only, and is subject to change in later releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]

Represents a nongeneric collection of key/value pairs.

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

Syntax

'Declaration
Public Interface IDictionary _
    Inherits ICollection, IEnumerable

public interface IDictionary : ICollection, 
    IEnumerable

public interface class IDictionary : ICollection, 
    IEnumerable

type IDictionary =  
    interface
        interface ICollection
        interface IEnumerable
    end

public interface IDictionary extends ICollection, IEnumerable

The IDictionary type exposes the following members.

Properties

	Name	Description
	Count	Gets the number of elements contained in the ICollection. (Inherited from ICollection.)
	IsFixedSize	Gets a value indicating whether the IDictionary object has a fixed size.
	IsReadOnly	Gets a value indicating whether the IDictionary object is read-only.
	IsSynchronized	Gets a value indicating whether access to the ICollection is synchronized (thread safe). (Inherited from ICollection.)
	Item	Gets or sets the element with the specified key.
	Keys	Gets an ICollection object containing the keys of the IDictionary object.
	SyncRoot	Gets an object that can be used to synchronize access to the ICollection. (Inherited from ICollection.)
	Values	Gets an ICollection object containing the values in the IDictionary object.

Top

Methods

	Name	Description
	Add	Adds an element with the provided key and value to the IDictionary object.
	Clear	Removes all elements from the IDictionary object.
	Contains	Determines whether the IDictionary object contains an element with the specified key.
	CopyTo	Copies the elements of the ICollection to an Array, starting at a particular Array index. (Inherited from ICollection.)
	GetEnumerator	Returns an enumerator that iterates through a collection. (Inherited from IEnumerable.)
	Remove	Removes the element with the specified key from the IDictionary object.

Top

Remarks

The IDictionary interface is the base interface for nongeneric collections of key/value pairs.

Each element is a key/value pair stored in a DictionaryEntry object.

Each pair must have a unique key. Implementations can vary in whether they allow the key to be null. The value can be null and does not have to be unique. The IDictionary interface allows the contained keys and values to be enumerated, but it does not imply any particular sort order.

IDictionary implementations fall into three categories: read-only, fixed-size, variable-size. A read-only IDictionary object cannot be modified. A fixed-size IDictionary object does not allow the addition or removal of elements, but does allow the modification of existing elements. A variable-size IDictionary object allows the addition, removal, and modification of elements.

See Also

Reference

System.Collections Namespace