Blue Theme Orange Theme Green Theme Red Theme
 
Discover the top 5 tips for understanding .NET Interop
Home | Forums | Videos | Photos | Blogs | Beginners | Advertise with Us
 | Consulting  
Submit an Article Submit a Blog 
 Jump to
Skip Navigation Links
TechnologyExpand Technology
WebsiteExpand Website
Discover the top 5 tips for understanding .NET Interop
Search :       Advanced Search »
Home » VB.NET » Limitations of ArrayLists in VB.Net

Limitations of ArrayLists in VB.Net

This article discusses some features of ArrayLists and there shortcomings/limitations.

Page Views : 14559
Downloads : 0
Rating :
 Rate it
Level : Intermediate
   Print Read/Post comments Post a comment  Similar Articles  
   Email to a friend  Bookmark  Author's other articles  
 
Team Foundation Server Hosting
Become a Sponsor
Become a Sponsor
 Tag Cloud
 Latest Jobs
More ... 
 Latest Interview Questions
More ... 

Generics are new feature provided with version 2.0 of the Microsoft.Net framework. Generic classes and methods combine re-usability, type safety and efficiency in a way that there non-generics counterparts do not/cannot.

In this part some features of ArrayLists and there shortcomings/limitations will be discussed. The code in this article has been written in Visual Studio 2005 in VB.Net.

Earlier ArrayLists used to server the purpose, but that in a certain limit. Moreover, using ArrayLists to store different types came as a good performance cost. At the client end it shows our desired type that we are storing in the ArrayList but internally there's much more that goes on.

Sample the code below:-

Dim myList As New System.Collections.ArrayList()

myList.Add(22)

myList.Add("VB.Net Generics")

myList.Add(22.45)

The usage convenience that is perceived above comes at a cost. Any reference or value type that is stored or added in the ArrayList (myList) is implicitly upcasted to System.Object type. And while retrieval, the reverse happens - downcasting to the appropriate type takes place.

Moreover, there is compromise on the Type Safety front also.  Consider the code below:-

Dim item As Integer = 0

 

'This will cause an InvalidCastException

Dim x As Integer

For Each x In  myList

   Item = item + x

Next x

 

The reason is evident.

In .Net 1.x type-safety was achieved by writing your own typed ArrayList. But again, in that case re-usability was a major issue. Consider the following code:-

Imports System

Imports System.Collections

Imports System.Collections.Generic

Imports System.Text

 

Namespace ArrayListSample

 

Class Person

    Private Name As [String]

    Private Age As Int32

    Private Address As [String]

 

    Public Sub New()

    End Sub 'New

 

    Public Sub New(ByVal Name As [String], ByVal Age As Int32, ByVal Address As [String])

        Name = Name

        Age = Age

        Address = Address

    End Sub 'New

 

    Public Sub New(ByVal Name As [String], ByVal Age As Int32)

        Name = Name

        Age = Age

        Address = [String].Empty

    End Sub 'New

 

    Public Sub New(ByVal Name As [String], ByVal Address As [String])

        Name = Name

        Age = 0

        Address = Address

    End Sub 'New

 

    Public Sub New(ByVal Name As [String])

        Name = Name

        Age = 0

        Address = [String].Empty

    End Sub 'New

End Class 'Person

 

Class PeopleCollection

    Inherits System.Collections.IEnumerable

 

    Private arPeople As New ArrayList()

 

    Public Sub New()

    End Sub 'New

 

    Public Sub AddPeople(ByVal p As Person)

        arPeople.Add(p)

    End Sub 'AddPeople

 

    Public Sub ClearPeople()

        arPeople.Clear()

    End Sub 'ClearPeople

 

    Private Count As Integer

 

    Public ReadOnly Property PeopleCount() As Integer

        Get

            Return Count

        End Get

    End Property

 

    Public Function GetEnumerator() As System.Collections.IEnumerator

        Return arPeople.GetEnumerator()

    End Function 'GetEnumerator

End Class 'PeopleCollection

 

Class Client

 

    Public Shared Sub Main()

 

        Dim myPeople As New PeopleCollection()

        myPeople.AddPeople(New Person("Saurabh", 24, "Gurgaon"))

        myPeople.AddPeople(New Person("Manu"))

 

        Dim Person As Person

        For Each Person In myPeople

            Console.WriteLine(Person)

        Next Person

 

        Console.ReadLine()

    End Sub 'Main

End Class 'Client

End Namespace 'ArrayListSample

 

The above code does achieve type safety but then we will have to write an almost identical custom collection for each type we wish to contain. Because:-

myPeople.AddPeople(New Car())

would be a compile time error, since the code/approach above achieves type safety. So at the end of the day it will be a big nightmare !!

So above we find some of the limitations of ArrayLists. In the next article we will find how Generics solve the issues discussed above.

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IS CONVERTED FROM C# TO VB.NET USING A CONVERSION TOOL. ORIGINAL ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND ON C# CORNER (http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/).

Comment Request!
Thank you for reading this post. Please post your feedback, question, or comments about this post Here.
Login to add your contents and source code to this article
 [Top] Rate this article
 
 About the author
 
Saurabh
Saurabh comes with almost 3years of experience in .Net. He specializes in C#, ASP.Net and is working with Open Solutions Software Services Pvt Ltd, Gurgaon. Besides being an active poster and author on C# Corner, Saurabh frequently blogs on, howtodotnet.blogspot.com, on technicals in .Net.
Looking for C# Consulting?
C# Consulting is founded in 2002 by the founders of C# Corner. Unlike a traditional consulting company, our consultants are well-known experts in .NET and many of them are MVPs, authors, and trainers. We specialize in Microsoft .NET development and utilize Agile Development and Extreme Programming practices to provide fast pace quick turnaround results. Our software development model is a mix of Agile Development, traditional SDLC, and Waterfall models.
Click here to learn more about C# Consulting.
 
Introducing MaxV - one click. infinite control. Hyper-V Hosting from MaximumASP.
Finally – a virtual platform that delivers next-generation Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V virtualization technology from a managed hosting partner you can truly depend on. Visit www.maximumasp.com/max for a FREE 30 day trial. Hurry offer ends soon. Climb aboard the MaxV platform and take advantage of High Availability, Intelligent Monitoring, Recurrent Backups, and Scalability – with no hassle or hidden fees. As a managed hosting partner focused solely on Microsoft technologies since 2000, MaximumASP is uniquely qualified to provide the superior support that our business is built on. Unparalleled expertise with Microsoft technologies lead to working directly with Microsoft as first to offer IIS 7 and SQL 2008 betas in a hosted environment; partnering in the Go Live Program for Hyper-V; and product co-launches built on WS 2008 with Hyper-V technology.
Dynamic PDF
ceTE software specializes in components for dynamic PDF generation and manipulation. The DynamicPDF™ product line allows you to dynamically generate PDF documents, merge PDF documents and new content to existing PDF documents from within your applications.
Discover the top 5 tips for understanding .NET
Ricky Leeks presents the top 5 tips for understanding .NET Interoperability. Learn more.
Nevron Chart for .NET 2010.1 Now Available
The leading .NET charting control now features PDF, Flash and Silverlight export, visualization of large datasets and more. Deliver true charting functionality to your BI, Scorecard, Presentation or Scientific apps. Download evaluation now.
ASP.NET 4 Hosting
Get 2 Months Free of ASP.NET Hosting for Only $4.95/month! Receive FREE MS SQL and MySQL Databases Including ASP.NET 4/3.5, MVC 3.0, Silverlight 4, Windows 2008/IIS 7.0 Plus FREE IIS 7 Modules. Host UNLIMITED ASP.NET Web Sites – Click Here!
 
 Post a Feedback, Comment, or Question about this article
Subject:
Comment:
DevExpress Free UI Controls
Become a Sponsor
 Comments
Converstion of source code by Barbulescu On January 30, 2009
What conversion tool have you used ? I am highly interested in this topic.
Reply | Email | Modify 

 © 2012  contents copyright of their authors. Rest everything copyright Mindcracker. All rights reserved.