TryGetFieldKeyByColumnName Method

Overview

The TryGetFieldKeyByColumnName method helps resolve the actual field key used inside a data row when you only know a column name. This is particularly useful when field keys are stored with a specific casing (for example, "FirstName") but callers may provide a different casing (for example, "firstname").

The method performs a fast exact-match lookup first. If that fails, it scans existing keys using a case-insensitive comparison and returns the matching key. When no matching key exists, the method returns false.

Declaration

/// <summary>
/// Tries to get field key by column name.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="dataRow">Data row.</param>
/// <param name="columnName">Column name.</param>
/// <param name="foundFieldKey">Found field key.</param>
/// <returns>True if field key found, otherwise false.</returns>
public static bool TryGetFieldKeyByColumnName(this IDataRow? dataRow, string columnName, out string? foundFieldKey)

Namespace and Assembly

Namespace: PocoDataSet.Extensions
Assembly: PocoDataSet.Extensions.dll

Behavior

• If dataRow is null, sets foundFieldKey to null and returns false.
• Checks for an exact key match using ContainsKey. If found, returns that key as-is.
• If no exact match exists, scans dataRow.Values.Keys and compares keys with columnName using StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase.
• If a case-insensitive match is found, returns true and outputs the existing key from the row.
• If no match is found, sets foundFieldKey to columnName and returns false. (This allows callers to keep a single variable for subsequent access attempts.)

Usage Example

Resolve the correct field key when the caller uses a different casing:

// 1. Create an empty data set
IDataSet dataSet = DataSetFactory.CreateDataSet();

// 2. Create Employee table and add some columns
IDataTable employeeTable = dataSet.AddNewTable("Employee");
employeeTable.AddColumn("Id", DataTypeNames.INT32);
employeeTable.AddColumn("FirstName", DataTypeNames.STRING);

// 3. Add a new row with a specific field key casing (e.g., "FirstName")
IDataRow employeeRow = employeeTable.AddNewRow();
employeeRow["Id"] = 1;
employeeRow["FirstName"] = "Sara";

// 4. Try to find filed key by a different casing (e.g., "firstname") and observe that field key is found
bool found = employeeRow.TryGetFieldKeyByColumnName("firstname", out string? fieldKey);

 

Table of Content POCO DataSet DataRow Members

 

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Business Process Programming in .Net
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