c# multi variable array

Question

Is there a way in c# to have an array of multiple variables?

for instance, I have data for a stock:

Date |Open |High |Low |Close

10-01-2012| 10.00| 11.01| 9.56| 10.56

10-02-2012| 10.56| 10.99| 9.21| 9.99

10-03-2012| 9.99 | 10.12| 9.78| 10.11

What I would like to do, is create an array which takes a DateTime and a String variable, and outputs a double/string.

So, if I wanted to get the Open price of the stock on 10-01-2012, I could say

DateTime Day = Convert.ToDateTime("10-01-2012"); double openPrice = MyArray[Day,"Open"];

and it would return 10.00, as either a double or a string.

What is the best way to do this? Is this even possible with an array? If not, what other methods can I use? I have been thinking about this for a while, and I'm not sure the best way to structure this array/object

Thanks for any help!

RJ Lohan · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-26 03:58:07Z

5

Possibly better to make a single class to contain your data, and create an array or List of those;

class DailyPrice
{
    DateTime Date { get; set; }
    decimal Open { get; set; }
    decimal Close { get; set; }
    decimal High { get; set; }
    decimal Low { get; set; }
}


static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        List<DailyPrice> prices = new List<DailyPrice>();
        prices.Add(new DailyPrice() { Date = DateTime.Today, Open = 11.11M, Close=... });
        prices.Add(new DailyPrice() { Date = DateTime.Today, Open = 12.14M, High=... });
        ...
    }
}

Incidentally, due to precision problems when performing arithmetic with the double type in C#, it's safer to user decimal for monetary values (which I assume is what you have here).

answered Jan 26, 2013 at 3:58

RJ Lohan

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Comments

jhewlett · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-26 05:17:07Z

2

You could use a dictionary within a dictionary, as follows:

var stocks = new Dictionary<DateTime, Dictionary<String, Double>>

Then, to access a price:

Double price = stocks[Day]["Open"]

edited Jan 26, 2013 at 5:17

answered Jan 26, 2013 at 4:04

jhewlett

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2 Comments

RJ Lohan Over a year ago

Technically would work, but having worked with structures like that before, I can attest to how complicated they can be to read and maintain at times.

jhewlett Over a year ago

Not ideal, sure, I was just trying to maintain the ability to look up a price based on two criteria, as that seemed pretty important to the author. You have a nice solution with objects, but you would need something like LINQ or a loop to find what you're looking for.

ppetrov · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-26 03:55:11Z

0

as far as I know you can't do it with arrays, but you can achieve this with a Dictionnary<>:

Dictionnary<DateTime, double[]>

that way you will be able to have your values "indexed" by day, and then on position 0 of the double array you would have your "Open" value

to get the "10.00" value you need you would have to do this:

openvalue = mydic[Day][0];

answered Jan 26, 2013 at 3:55

ppetrov

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