Testing if an Object is a Dictionary in C#

Question

Is there a way to test if an object is a dictionary?

In a method I'm trying to get a value from a selected item in a list box. In some circumstances, the list box might be bound to a dictionary, but this isn't known at compile time.

I would like to do something similar to this:

if (listBox.ItemsSource is Dictionary<??>)
{
    KeyValuePair<??> pair = (KeyValuePair<??>)listBox.SelectedItem;
    object value = pair.Value;
}

Is there a way to do this dynamically at runtime using reflection? I know it's possible to use reflection with generic types and determine the key/value parameters, but I'm not sure if there's a way to do the rest after those values are retrieved.

Answer 1

It should be something like the following. I wrote this in the answer box so the syntax may not be exactly right, but I've made it Wiki editable so anybody can fix up.

if (listBox.ItemsSource.IsGenericType && 
    typeof(IDictionary<,>).IsAssignableFrom(listBox.ItemsSource.GetGenericTypeDefinition()))
{
    var method = typeof(KeyValuePair<,>).GetProperty("Value").GetGetMethod();
    var item = method.Invoke(listBox.SelectedItem, null);
}

Answer 2

Check to see if it implements IDictionary.

See the definition of System.Collections.IDictionary to see what that gives you.

if (listBox.ItemsSource is IDictionary)
{
    DictionaryEntry pair = (DictionaryEntry)listBox.SelectedItem;
    object value = pair.Value;
}

EDIT: Alternative when I realized KeyValuePair's aren't castable to DictionaryEntry

if (listBox.DataSource is IDictionary)
{
     listBox.ValueMember = "Value";
     object value = listBox.SelectedValue;
     listBox.ValueMember = ""; //If you need it to generally be empty.
}

This solution uses reflection, but in this case you don't have to do the grunt work, ListBox does it for you. Also if you generally have dictionaries as data sources you may be able to avoid reseting ValueMember all of the time.

Answer 3

I know this question was asked many years ago, but it is still visible publicly.

There were few examples proposed here in this topic and in this one:
Determine if type is dictionary [duplicate]

but there are few mismatches, so I want to share my solution

Short answer:

var dictionaryInterfaces = new[]
{
    typeof(IDictionary<,>),
    typeof(IDictionary),
    typeof(IReadOnlyDictionary<,>),
};

var dictionaries = collectionOfAnyTypeObjects
    .Where(d => d.GetType().GetInterfaces()
        .Any(t=> dictionaryInterfaces
            .Any(i=> i == t || t.IsGenericType && i == t.GetGenericTypeDefinition())))

Longer answer:
I believe this is the reason why people make mistakes:

//notice the difference between IDictionary (interface) and Dictionary (class)
typeof(IDictionary<,>).IsAssignableFrom(typeof(IDictionary<,>)) // true 
typeof(IDictionary<int, int>).IsAssignableFrom(typeof(IDictionary<int, int>)); // true

typeof(IDictionary<int, int>).IsAssignableFrom(typeof(Dictionary<int, int>)); // true
typeof(IDictionary<,>).IsAssignableFrom(typeof(Dictionary<,>)); // false!! in contrast with above line this is little bit unintuitive

so let say we have these types:

public class CustomReadOnlyDictionary : IReadOnlyDictionary<string, MyClass>
public class CustomGenericDictionary : IDictionary<string, MyClass>
public class CustomDictionary : IDictionary

and these instances:

var dictionaries = new object[]
{
    new Dictionary<string, MyClass>(),
    new ReadOnlyDictionary<string, MyClass>(new Dictionary<string, MyClass>()),
    new CustomReadOnlyDictionary(),
    new CustomDictionary(),
    new CustomGenericDictionary()
};

so if we will use .IsAssignableFrom() method:

var dictionaries2 = dictionaries.Where(d =>
    {
        var type = d.GetType();
        return type.IsGenericType && typeof(IDictionary<,>).IsAssignableFrom(type.GetGenericTypeDefinition());
    }); // count == 0!!

we will not get any instance

so best way is to get all interfaces and check if any of them is dictionary interface:

var dictionaryInterfaces = new[]
{
    typeof(IDictionary<,>),
    typeof(IDictionary),
    typeof(IReadOnlyDictionary<,>),
};

var dictionaries2 = dictionaries
    .Where(d => d.GetType().GetInterfaces()
        .Any(t=> dictionaryInterfaces
            .Any(i=> i == t || t.IsGenericType && i == t.GetGenericTypeDefinition()))) // count == 5

Answer 4

you can check to see if it implements IDictionary. You'll just have to enumerate over using the DictionaryEntry class.

Answer 5

You could be a little more generic and ask instead if it implements IDictionary. Then the KeyValue collection will contina plain Objects.

Answer 6

I believe a warning is at place.

When you're testing if an object 'is a' something this or that, you're reimplementing (part of) the type system. The first 'is a' is often swiftly followed by a second one, and soon your code is full of type checks, which ought to be very well handled by the type system - at least in an object oriented design.

Of course, I know nothing of the context of the question. I do know a 2000 line file in our own codebase that handles 50 different object to String conversions... :(

Answer 7

if(typeof(IDictionary).IsAssignableFrom(listBox.ItemsSource.GetType()))
{

}