Article
11/18/2011

ListInitExpression Class

Microsoft Silverlight will reach end of support after October 2021. Learn more.

Represents a constructor call that has a collection initializer.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
System.Linq.Expressions.Expression
System.Linq.Expressions.ListInitExpression

Namespace: System.Linq.Expressions
Assembly: System.Core (in System.Core.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
Public NotInheritable Class ListInitExpression _
    Inherits Expression

public sealed class ListInitExpression : Expression

The ListInitExpression type exposes the following members.

Properties

	Name	Description
	CanReduce	Gets a value that indicates whether the expression tree node can be reduced. (Overrides Expression.CanReduce.)
	Initializers	Gets the element initializers that are used to initialize a collection.
	NewExpression	Gets the expression that contains a call to the constructor of a collection type.
	NodeType	Returns the node type of this Expression. (Overrides Expression.NodeType.) In Silverlight for Windows Phone Windows Phone OS 7.1, this member is inherited from Expression.NodeType. In XNA Framework Windows Phone OS 7.0, this member is inherited from Expression.NodeType.
	Type	Gets the static type of the expression that this Expression represents. (Overrides Expression.Type.) In Silverlight for Windows Phone Windows Phone OS 7.1, this member is inherited from Expression.Type. In XNA Framework Windows Phone OS 7.0, this member is inherited from Expression.Type.

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Methods

	Name	Description
	Accept	Dispatches to the specific visit method for this node type. For example, MethodCallExpression calls the VisitMethodCall. (Inherited from Expression.)
	Equals(Object)	Determines whether the specified Object is equal to the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	Finalize	Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before the Object is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetHashCode	Serves as a hash function for a particular type. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetType	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
	MemberwiseClone	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	Reduce	Reduces the binary expression node to a simpler expression. (Overrides Expression.Reduce().)
	ReduceAndCheck	Reduces this node to a simpler expression. If CanReduce returns true, this should return a valid expression. This method can return another node which itself must be reduced. (Inherited from Expression.)
	ReduceExtensions	Reduces the expression to a known node type (that is not an Extension node) or just returns the expression if it is already a known type. (Inherited from Expression.)
	ToString	Returns a textual representation of the Expression. (Inherited from Expression.)
	Update	Creates a new expression that is like this one, but using the supplied children. If all of the children are the same, it will return this expression.
	VisitChildren	Reduces the node and then calls the visitor delegate on the reduced expression. The method throws an exception if the node is not reducible. (Inherited from Expression.)

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Remarks

Use the ListInit factory methods to create a ListInitExpression.

The value of the NodeType property of a ListInitExpression is ListInit.

Examples

The following example creates a ListInitExpression that represents the initialization of a new dictionary instance that has two key-value pairs.

Dim tree1 As String = "maple"
Dim tree2 As String = "oak"

Dim addMethod As System.Reflection.MethodInfo = _
    Type.GetType("System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.Int32, System.String]").GetMethod("Add")

' Create two ElementInit objects that represent the
' two key-value pairs to add to the Dictionary.
Dim elementInit1 As System.Linq.Expressions.ElementInit = _
    System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.ElementInit( _
        addMethod, _
        System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.Constant(tree1.Length), _
        System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.Constant(tree1))
Dim elementInit2 As System.Linq.Expressions.ElementInit = _
    System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.ElementInit( _
        addMethod, _
        System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.Constant(tree2.Length), _
        System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.Constant(tree2))

' Create a NewExpression that represents constructing
' a new instance of Dictionary(Of Integer, String).
Dim newDictionaryExpression As System.Linq.Expressions.NewExpression = _
    System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.[New](Type.GetType("System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.Int32, System.String]"))

' Create a ListInitExpression that represents initializing
' a new Dictionary(Of T) instance with two key-value pairs.
Dim listInitExpression As System.Linq.Expressions.ListInitExpression = _
    System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.ListInit( _
        newDictionaryExpression, _
        elementInit1, _
        elementInit2)

outputBlock.Text &= listInitExpression.ToString() & vbCrLf

' This code produces the following output:
'
' new Dictionary`2() {Void Add(Int32, System.String)(5,"maple"),
' Void Add(Int32, System.String)(3,"oak")

string tree1 = "maple";
string tree2 = "oak";

System.Reflection.MethodInfo addMethod = typeof(Dictionary<int, string>).GetMethod("Add");

// Create two ElementInit objects that represent the
// two key-value pairs to add to the Dictionary.
System.Linq.Expressions.ElementInit elementInit1 =
    System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.ElementInit(
        addMethod,
        System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.Constant(tree1.Length),
        System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.Constant(tree1));
System.Linq.Expressions.ElementInit elementInit2 =
    System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.ElementInit(
        addMethod,
        System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.Constant(tree2.Length),
        System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.Constant(tree2));

// Create a NewExpression that represents constructing
// a new instance of Dictionary<int, string>.
System.Linq.Expressions.NewExpression newDictionaryExpression =
    System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.New(typeof(Dictionary<int, string>));

// Create a ListInitExpression that represents initializing
// a new Dictionary<> instance with two key-value pairs.
System.Linq.Expressions.ListInitExpression listInitExpression =
    System.Linq.Expressions.Expression.ListInit(
        newDictionaryExpression,
        elementInit1,
        elementInit2);

outputBlock.Text += listInitExpression.ToString() + "\n";

// This code produces the following output:
//
// new Dictionary`2() {Void Add(Int32, System.String)(5,"maple"),
// Void Add(Int32, System.String)(3,"oak")}

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

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