How do I implement IEnumerable<T>

Question

If you choose to use a generic collection, such as List<MyObject> instead of ArrayList, you'll find that the List<MyObject> will provide both generic and non-generic enumerators that you can use.

using System.Collections;

class MyObjects : IEnumerable<MyObject>
{
    List<MyObject> mylist = new List<MyObject>();

    public MyObject this[int index]  
    {  
        get { return mylist[index]; }  
        set { mylist.Insert(index, value); }  
    } 

    public IEnumerator<MyObject> GetEnumerator()
    {
        return mylist.GetEnumerator();
    }

    IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
    {
        return this.GetEnumerator();
    }
}

You probably do not want an explicit implementation of IEnumerable<T> (which is what you've shown).

The usual pattern is to use IEnumerable<T>'s GetEnumerator in the explicit implementation of IEnumerable:

class FooCollection : IEnumerable<Foo>, IEnumerable
{
    SomeCollection<Foo> foos;

    // Explicit for IEnumerable because weakly typed collections are Bad
    System.Collections.IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
    {
        // uses the strongly typed IEnumerable<T> implementation
        return this.GetEnumerator();
    }

    // Normal implementation for IEnumerable<T>
    IEnumerator<Foo> GetEnumerator()
    {
        foreach (Foo foo in this.foos)
        {
            yield return foo;
            //nb: if SomeCollection is not strongly-typed use a cast:
            // yield return (Foo)foo;
            // Or better yet, switch to an internal collection which is
            // strongly-typed. Such as List<T> or T[], your choice.
        }

        // or, as pointed out: return this.foos.GetEnumerator();
    }
}

Why do you do it manually? yield return automates the entire process of handling iterators. (I also wrote about it on my blog, including a look at the compiler generated code).

If you really want to do it yourself, you have to return a generic enumerator too. You won't be able to use an ArrayList any more since that's non-generic. Change it to a List<MyObject> instead. That of course assumes that you only have objects of type MyObject (or derived types) in your collection.

If you work with generics, use List instead of ArrayList. The List has exactly the GetEnumerator method you need.

List<MyObject> myList = new List<MyObject>();