LINQ provides lot of ways to query the objects or XML. But we might need some more features\extensions which will be handy in real development. Let us explore a library which provides more extensions\features to the existing framework.
Introduction
The Reactive Extensions (Rx) is a library for composing asynchronous and event-based programs using observable sequences (provides notification information) and LINQ-style query operators.
The Interactive Extensions (Ix) is a .NET library which extends LINQ to Objects to provide many of the operators available in Rx but targeted for IEnumerable
This will install System.Interactive.dll file. EnumerableEx class provides a set of additional static methods that allow querying enumerable sequences.
Execute below command in Nuget Package Manager Console to install:
install-package Ix-Main
Let us discuss few features:
Do: This lazily invokes an action for each value in the sequence. That means it invokes\executes an action for each value in enumeration.
Sample Code:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
DisplayNumbersDo();
}
static void DisplayNumbersDo()
{
int addnumber = 10;
//Let us create a set of numbers
var numbers = new int[] { 6, 1, 4, 2, 6 };
var result = numbers.Do(n => Console.WriteLine(n + addnumber));
Console.WriteLine("Before Enumeration");
foreach (var item in result)
{
//The action will be invoked when we actually enumerate
}
Console.WriteLine("After Enumeration");
Console.ReadLine();
}
ForEach: Enumerates the sequence and invokes the given action for each value in the sequence.
Sample Code:
static void Main(string[] args) { List names = new List { "ram", "nagesh" }; names.ForEach(s => Console.WriteLine(s)); ; Console.ReadLine(); }
Scan: Generates a sequence of accumulated values by scanning the source sequence and applying an accumulator function.
Sample Code:
static void Main(string[] args) { List names = new List { "ram ", "nagesh" }; names.Scan((x,y) => x + y).ForEach(s => Console.WriteLine(s)); Console.ReadLine(); }
Below are few more methods which might be useful:
Repeat: Repeats and concatenates the source sequence infinitely.
SkipLast: Bypasses a specified number of contiguous elements from the end of the sequence and returns the remaining elements.
TakeLast: Returns a specified number of contiguous elements from the end of the sequence.
You can install Interactive Extensions in Visual Studio 2010 also.
