Select distinct from List<t> ignoring one element

Question

I have a List of custom a datatype, simplified example (myMovies):

public class Movie
{
    public Int32 TVIndex;
    public string MovieName;
    public string MovieRating;
    public string MovieRuntime;
    public List<Actor> MovieActors;
    public List<MovieArt> MovieImages;
}



public class Actor
{
    public string ActorName;
    public string ActorRole;
}

public class MovieArt
{
    public string ImagePath;
}


List<Movie> myMovies = new List<Movie>(); 

Now I am trying to remove all duplicates from myMovies but ignoring TVIndex.

I have tried looking at

List<Movie> myDistinctMovies = myMovies.Distinct().ToList(); 

But cannot figure out how to ignore TvIndex. Is this possible?

Answer 1

Based on @Grundy's answer, including implementation:

public class MovieEqualityComparer : IEqualityComparer<Movie>
{

    public bool Equals(Movie x, Movie y)
    {
        if ( x == null )
            return y == null;

        if ( y == null )
            return x == null;

        if ( object.ReferenceEquals(x, y) )
            return true;

        if ( !string.Equals(x.MovieName, y.MovieName) )
            return false;

        if ( !string.Equals(x.MovieRating, y.MovieRating) )
            return false;

        if ( !string.Equals(x.MovieRuntime, y.MovieRuntime) )
            return false;

        if ( !Enumerable.SequenceEqual(x.MovieActors, y.MovieActors) )
            return false;

        if ( !Enumerable.SequenceEqual(x.MovieImages, y.MovieImages) )
            return false;

        return true;
    }

    public int GetHashCode(Movie obj)
    {
        if ( obj == null )
            throw new ArgumentNullException();

        unchecked
        {
            int hash = 17;
            hash     = hash * 31 + ((obj.MovieName    == null) ? 0 : obj.MovieName.GetHashCode());
            hash     = hash * 31 + ((obj.MovieRating  == null) ? 0 : obj.MovieRating.GetHashCode());
            hash     = hash * 31 + ((obj.MovieRuntime == null) ? 0 : obj.MovieRuntime.GetHashCode());

            if ( obj.MovieActors != null )
            {
                foreach ( var actor in obj.MovieActors )
                    hash = hash * 31 + ((actor == null) ? 0 : actor.GetHashCode());
            }

            if ( obj.MovieImages != null )
            {
                foreach ( var image in obj.MovieImages )
                    hash = hash * 31 + ((image == null) ? 0 : image.GetHashCode());
            }

            return hash;
        }
    }
}

Usage is the same:

List<Movie> myMovies = new List<Movie>
    {
        // ...
    }; 

List<Movie> myDistinctMovies = myMovies.Distinct(new MovieEqualityComparer()).ToList(); 

EDIT

As pointed out by @Tim, you have to do something quite similar for your other custom types if you want to compare by anything other than reference equality.

public class Actor : IEquatable<Actor>
{
    public string ActorName;
    public string ActorRole;

    public override bool Equals(object obj)
    {
        return this.Equals(obj as Actor);
    }

    public bool Equals(Actor other)
    {
        if ( other == null )
            return false;

        if ( object.ReferenceEquals(this, other) )
            return true;

        if ( !string.Equals(this.ActorName, other.ActorName) )
            return false;

        if ( !string.Equals(this.ActorRole, other.ActorRole) )
            return false;

        return true;
    }

    public override int GetHashCode()
    {
        unchecked
        {
            int hash = 17;
            hash     = hash * 31 + ((ActorName == null) ? 0 : ActorName.GetHashCode());
            hash     = hash * 31 + ((ActorRole == null) ? 0 : ActorRole.GetHashCode());

            return hash;
        }
    }
}

public class MovieArt : IEquatable<MovieArt>
{
    public string ImagePath;

    public override bool Equals(object obj)
    {
        return this.Equals(obj as MovieArt);
    }

    public bool Equals(MovieArt other)
    {
        if ( other == null )
            return false;

        if ( object.ReferenceEquals(this, other) )
            return true;

        if ( !string.Equals(this.ImagePath, other.ImagePath) )
            return false;

        return true;
    }

    public override int GetHashCode()
    {
        unchecked
        {
            int hash = 17;
            hash     = hash * 31 + ((ImagePath == null) ? 0 : ImagePath.GetHashCode());

            return hash;
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

you can use Distinct with EqualityComparer something like this

public class MoviesEqualityComparer : IEqualityComparer<Movie>
{
    public bool Equals(Movie x, Movie y)
    {
        return ..../* check all needed fields */

    }

    public int GetHashCode(Movie obj)
    {
        return .... /* get hashcode for movie objec*/
    }
}

and use it like

List<Movie> myDistinctMovies = myMovies.Distinct(new MoviesEqualityComparer()).ToList();