C# Dictionary Return Type

Question

I've got a problem with some c# code I'm writing, I'm fairly new to c# and I've had a look around and can't find a solution.

I've got a method that returns a Dictionary, I've set the return type to object and it seems ok.

    public object loopThroughNotificationCountQueries()
    {
        var countQuery = new Dictionary<string, string>(); ...


        ... return countQuery;
    }

The problem is in the main method where I'm trying to loop through the elements returned from the dictionary.

                Notification notification = new Notification();

                var countDictionary = notification.loopThroughNotificationCountQueries();


                foreach(KeyValuePair<String, String> entry in countDictionary)
                {
                    ...
                }

I'm getting an error saying "Error 2 foreach statement cannot operate on variables of type 'object' because 'object' does not contain a public definition for 'GetEnumerator'"

Is it because I'm not specifying the correct return type for a dictionary? Or is there another way of iterating through the entries in the returned object?

Thanks for your help, Stephen.

Answer 1

Look at your method declaration:

public object loopThroughNotificationCountQueries()

That means your countDictionary declaration is effectively:

object countDictionary = notification.loopThroughNotificationCountQueries();

... and you can't use foreach with an object like that. The simplest fix is to change the method declaration, e.g. to

// Note case change as well to follow .NET naming conventions
public IDictionary<string, string> LoopThroughNotificationCountQueries()

Answer 2

Use

public Dictionary<string, string> loopThroughNotificationCountQueries() { ... }

or explain why that's not possible.

Answer 3

public IDictionary<string, string> loopThroughNotificationCountQueries()
    {
        var countQuery = new Dictionary<string, string>(); ...


        ... return countQuery;
    }