Object Initializer for object collections

Question

I am wanting to find out if there is a way to initialize a List<T> where T is an object much like a simple collection gets initialized?

Simple Collection Initializer:

List<int> digits = new List<int> { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 };

Object Collection Initilizer:

 List<ChildObject> childObjects = new List<ChildObject>
 {       
        new ChildObject(){ Name = "Sylvester", Age=8 },
        new ChildObject(){ Name = "Whiskers", Age=2 },
        new ChildObject(){ Name = "Sasha", Age=14 }
 };

The question is, how and if you can do something like this?

 List<ChildObject> childObjects = new List<ChildObject>
 {       
       { "Sylvester", 8} , {"Whiskers", 2}, {"Sasha", 14}
 };

Answer 1

If you look at the docs for collection initializers, it's all about the collection's Add method. Just subclass the closed generic List over your type and make an Add method with the naked parameters. Like

public class MyColl : List<ChildObject>
{
    public void Add(string s1, int a1, int a2)
    {
        base.Add(new ChildObject(s1, a1, a2));
    }
}

public class ChildObject
{
    public ChildObject(string s1, int a1, int a2)
    {
        //...
    }
}

Then calling it looks like:

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        MyColl x = new MyColl
        {
            {"boo", 2, 4},
            {"mang", 3, 5},
        };
    }