You can specify an external comparer (IComparer) for those cases when the key object does not implement ICompareable.
HTH, Saar ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nathan Rogers (Public Mail)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2002 02:47 Subject: [ADVANCED-DOTNET] Keys in collections System.Collections.Hashtable raises a runtime exception if you attempt to do a lookup on a key that doesn't implement IComparable (which makes sense). But I'm not sure why the "key" parameter in this (and other key-based collections) class' method delcarations is "object", rather than "IComparable", which would mean this error could be caught at compile time. This seems to stem from the declarations in IDictionary My first thought is that it was done to support the use of value types as keys (because I wasn't sure if they could implement interfaces - they can't in Java), but they can in the CLS successfully be cast to IComparable and indeed the object browser shows that things like Int32 implement IComparable. My second thought is that it was to support enumerable-only collections (without any key based lookup). Seems a little weak though. Can anyone see another reason or flaw in my thinking? Cheers Nath You can read messages from the Advanced DOTNET archive, unsubscribe from Advanced DOTNET, or subscribe to other DevelopMentor lists at http://discuss.develop.com. You can read messages from the Advanced DOTNET archive, unsubscribe from Advanced DOTNET, or subscribe to other DevelopMentor lists at http://discuss.develop.com.
