Create Dictionary-style collection initializer on custom class [duplicate]

Answer 1

To get the custom initialization to work like Dictionary you need to support two things. Your type needs to implement IEnumerable and have an appropriate Add method. You are initializing an Array, which doesn't have an Add method. For example

class PairList : IEnumerable
{
    private List> _list = new List>();

    public void Add(T1 arg1, T2 arg2)
    {
        _list.Add(new Pair(arg1, arg2));
    }

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

and then you can do

var temp = new PairList
{
    {0, "bob"},
    {1, "phil"},
    {0, "nick"}
};