[fdo-trac] #690: Use generic collection interfaces for managed collections

[FDO]

#690: Use generic collection interfaces for managed collections
---------------------------+------------------------------------------------
   Reporter:  jng          |       Owner:  gregboone
       Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  new      
   Priority:  major        |   Milestone:  3.6.0    
  Component:  FDO API      |     Version:           
   Severity:  3            |    Keywords:           
External_id:               |  
---------------------------+------------------------------------------------
 Most (all?) collection classes in the current .net wrapper API inherit
 from {{{CollectionBase}}} which implements the untyped
 {{{System.Collections.IList}}} interface.

 Using the FDO .net API in a .net Framework >= 3.5 environment with C# 3.0
 syntax is cumbersome because of the following issues:

 1. Compiler type inference fails on foreach loops:

 {{{
 FeatureSchemaCollection featureSchemas = ...;
 foreach(var schema in featureSchemas)
 {
     //schema will be inferred as System.Object instead of
 OSGeo.FDO.Schema.FeatureSchema
 }
 }}}

 2. LINQ to Objects usage such as the fragment below will fail:

 {{{
 FeatureSchema schema = ...;
 var cls = schema.Classes.Where(x => x.Name ==
 "MyFeatureClass").FirstOrDefault();
 }}}

 Currently the {{{Cast()}}} extension method has to be used to make these
 collections LINQ friendly, resulting in ugly casting of each enumerated
 object.

 {{{
 FeatureSchema schema = ...;
 var cls = schema.Classes.Cast<ClassDefinition>().Where(x => x.Name ==
 "MyFeatureClass").FirstOrDefault();
 }}}

 Having {{{CollectionBase}}} as a generic collection class implementing the
 generic {{{IList<T>}}} interface will make the managed API more friendly
 to C# 3.0 syntax.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://trac.osgeo.org/fdo/ticket/690>
FDO <http://fdo.osgeo.org/>
Feature Data Objects