ContainsColumn Method

Overview

The ContainsColumn method determines whether a observable data table contains a column with the specified name. The comparison is performed in a case-insensitive manner.

This helper is typically used to validate schema assumptions before reading or writing values, especially when working with dynamically generated tables.

Declaration

/// <summary>
/// Returns true if table contains column with specified name
/// </summary>
/// <param name="observableDataTable">Observable data table</param>
/// <param name="columnName">Column name</param>
/// <returns>True if exists, otherwise false</returns>
public static bool ContainsColumn(this IObservableDataTable? dataTable, string? columnName)

Namespace and Assembly

Namespace: PocoDataSet.ObservableExtensions
Assembly: PocoDataSet.ObservableExtensions.dll

Behavior

• If dataTable is null, returns false.
• If columnName is null or empty, returns false.
• Iterates through dataTable.Columns and compares column names using StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase.

Usage Example

// 1. Create observable data set
IObservableDataSet observableDataSet = new ObservableDataSet();

// 2. Create Department observable table with rows in different states
IObservableDataTable departmentObservableDataTable = observableDataSet.AddNewTable("Department");
departmentObservableDataTable.AddColumn("Id", DataTypeNames.INT32);
departmentObservableDataTable.AddColumn("Name", DataTypeNames.STRING);

bool containsIdColumn = departmentObservableDataTable.ContainsColumn("ID"); // true
bool containsNameColumn = departmentObservableDataTable.ContainsColumn("name"); // true
bool containsCodeColumn = departmentObservableDataTable.ContainsColumn("Code"); // false

Notes

• This method performs a linear scan of the column metadata collection. For tables with many columns, repeated calls may have a small performance cost.
• Column name comparison is case-insensitive, but column storage itself preserves the original casing.

 

Table of Content POCO DataSet Observable Data Table Members

 

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Business Process Programming in .Net
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