How to make inline array initialization work like e.g. Dictionary initialization?

Question

Why is it possible to initialize a Dictionary like this:

var dict = new Dictionary() { 
    { \"key1\", 1 },
    { \"         


        

Answer 1

Your problem stems from the fact that it is an array, not a collection.

var kvps = new KeyValuePair[] {
    { "key1", 1 },
    { "key2", 2 }
};

should really be:

var kvps = new KeyValuePair[] {
    new KeyValuePair("key1", 1),
    new KeyValuePair("key2", 2)
};

The giveaway is the brackets. [] is an array. {} is a collection.