Of all the new features in C# 3.0, Lambda expressions have to be one of my favourites.
One non-obvious way that they can be used is as event handlers, in just the way that anonymous delegates could be.
Consider these examples, handling the AfterExpand method of a WinForms TreeView.
Original code, from the era of C# 2.0: treeView.AfterExpand +=
new TreeViewEventHandler(
delegate(object o, TreeViewEventArgs t)
{
t.Node.ImageIndex = (int)FolderIconEnum.open;
t.Node.SelectedImageIndex = (int)FolderIconEnum.open;
}
);
First, lets swap out the delegate for a lambda expression: treeView.AfterExpand +=
new TreeViewEventHandler(
(object o, TreeViewEventArgs t) =>
{
t.Node.ImageIndex = (int) FolderIconEnum.open;
t.Node.SelectedImageIndex = (int) FolderIconEnum.open;
}
);
The C# compiler is willing to infer the new TreeViewEventHandler(), so we can leave it out: treeView.AfterExpand +=
(object o, TreeViewEventArgs t) =>
{
t.Node.ImageIndex = (int) FolderIconEnum.open;
t.Node.SelectedImageIndex = (int) FolderIconEnum.open;
};
Now, the types of the arguments to the lamda expression can be inferred: treeView.AfterExpand +=
(o, t) =>
{
t.Node.ImageIndex = (int) FolderIconEnum.open;
t.Node.SelectedImageIndex = (int) FolderIconEnum.open;
};
Simple, clean and easy to read … well, once you’re used to it, anyway.
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