Anonymous Types in C#

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Anonymous Types are a quick way to work with datasets and objects "on the fly". Though I still don't know the issues in terms on software maintenance and all - they can be pretty usable (not to mention the entire Linq is based on this )


I am posting snippets of code that I've worked with - might be helpful for beginners.

Collections and Anonymous Types

ArrayList

            var firstPerson = new { Age = 20, Firstname = "John", Lastname = "Smith", City = "Chicago" };

            var secondPerson = new { Age = 21, Firstname = "Mary", Lastname = "Green", City = "SFO" };

           

            ArrayList students = new ArrayList();

            students.Add(firstPerson);

            students.Add(secondPerson);

            Type declaredType = firstPerson.GetType(); // get the Type of the anonymous type.

            foreach (object s in students)

            {

                Type resolvedType = s.GetType(); // now get the Type of the retrieved object 
                                                from ArrayList - all are object by default -

                if (resolvedType.Equals(declaredType)) // Compare the types for equality 

                {

                    dynamic d = s; // MUST use dynamic as narrowing down/casting 
                                                to Anonymous type is not possible (?)

                    Console.WriteLine(d.age);

                }

            }