F# -> Implement IComparable for HashSet<'a>

Question

Is it possible to somehow implement IComparable for a HashSet<\'a>? The reason for this is that I have following record declared:

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Answer 1

I'll assume you want to compare and equate Categorys by taking only Id, Name, and SavePath into account (in that order), making the record behave as though Tags wasn't present:

open System
open System.Collections.Generic

[<CustomComparison; CustomEquality>]
type Category =
    { mutable Id : string;
      Name       : string;
      SavePath   : string;
      Tags       : HashSet<Tag> }
    member private this.Ident = this.Id, this.Name, this.SavePath
    interface IComparable<Category> with
        member this.CompareTo other =
            compare this.Ident other.Ident
    interface IComparable with
        member this.CompareTo obj =
            match obj with
              | null                 -> 1
              | :? Category as other -> (this :> IComparable<_>).CompareTo other
              | _                    -> invalidArg "obj" "not a Category"
    interface IEquatable<Category> with
        member this.Equals other =
            this.Ident = other.Ident
    override this.Equals obj =
        match obj with
          | :? Category as other -> (this :> IEquatable<_>).Equals other
          | _                    -> false
    override this.GetHashCode () =
        hash this.Ident

and Tag = { Tag : string; }

However, if instead you want to compare by Name and equate by Id then consider the following:

open System
open System.Collections.Generic

[<CustomComparison; CustomEquality>]
type Category =
    { mutable Id : string;
      Name       : string;
      SavePath   : string;
      Tags       : HashSet<Tag> }
    interface IComparable<Category> with
        member this.CompareTo { Name = name } =
            this.Name.CompareTo name
    interface IComparable with
        member this.CompareTo obj =
            match obj with
              | null                 -> 1
              | :? Category as other -> (this :> IComparable<_>).CompareTo other
              | _                    -> invalidArg "obj" "not a Category"
    interface IEquatable<Category> with
        member this.Equals { Id = id } =
            this.Id = id
    override this.Equals obj =
        match obj with
          | :? Category as other -> (this :> IEquatable<_>).Equals other
          | _                    -> false
    override this.GetHashCode () =
        this.Id.GetHashCode ()

and Tag = { Tag : string; }

Answer 2

See

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/archive/blogs/dsyme/equality-and-comparison-constraints-in-f

Briefly, I think you want to apply the CustomEquality and CustomComparison attributes to this type and then implement it yourself.