// ==++== // // Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. // // ==--== /*============================================================ ** ** Interface: ICollection ** ** [....] ** ** ** Purpose: Base interface for all collections. ** ** ===========================================================*/ namespace System.Collections { using System; using System.Diagnostics.Contracts; // Base interface for all collections, defining enumerators, size, and // synchronization methods. #if CONTRACTS_FULL [ContractClass(typeof(ICollectionContract))] #endif // CONTRACTS_FULL [System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComVisible(true)] public interface ICollection : IEnumerable { // Interfaces are not serialable // CopyTo copies a collection into an Array, starting at a particular // index into the array. // void CopyTo(Array array, int index); // Number of items in the collections. int Count { get; } // SyncRoot will return an Object to use for synchronization // (thread safety). You can use this object in your code to take a // lock on the collection, even if this collection is a wrapper around // another collection. The intent is to tunnel through to a real // implementation of a collection, and use one of the internal objects // found in that code. // // In the absense of a static Synchronized method on a collection, // the expected usage for SyncRoot would look like this: // // ICollection col = ... // lock (col.SyncRoot) { // // Some operation on the collection, which is now thread safe. // // This may include multiple operations. // } // // // The system-provided collections have a static method called // Synchronized which will create a thread-safe wrapper around the // collection. All access to the collection that you want to be // thread-safe should go through that wrapper collection. However, if // you need to do multiple calls on that collection (such as retrieving // two items, or checking the count then doing something), you should // NOT use our thread-safe wrapper since it only takes a lock for the // duration of a single method call. Instead, use Monitor.Enter/Exit // or your language's equivalent to the C# lock keyword as mentioned // above. // // For collections with no publically available underlying store, the // expected implementation is to simply return the this pointer. Note // that the this pointer may not be sufficient for collections that // wrap other collections; those should return the underlying // collection's SyncRoot property. Object SyncRoot { get; } // Is this collection synchronized (i.e., thread-safe)? If you want a // thread-safe collection, you can use SyncRoot as an object to // synchronize your collection with. If you're using one of the // collections in System.Collections, you could call the static // Synchronized method to get a thread-safe wrapper around the // underlying collection. bool IsSynchronized { get; } } #if CONTRACTS_FULL [ContractClassFor(typeof(ICollection))] internal abstract class ICollectionContract : ICollection { void ICollection.CopyTo(Array array, int index) { } int ICollection.Count { get { Contract.Ensures(Contract.Result() >= 0); return default(int); } } Object ICollection.SyncRoot { get { Contract.Ensures(Contract.Result() != null); return default(Object); } } bool ICollection.IsSynchronized { get { return default(bool); } } IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator() { return default(IEnumerator); } } #endif // CONTRACTS_FULL }