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TCustomComparer.Equals Method

Equals is a generic method that checks whether two values are equal.

Pascal
function Equals(const Left: T; const Right: T): Boolean; virtual; abstract; overload; reintroduce;
C++
virtual __fastcall Boolean Equals(const T Left, const T Right) = 0;

Use Equals to check whether two values are equal. Any class that derives from TCustomComparer is expected to implement the Equals method.  

The return value of the Equals method must be one of the following.

Return value  
Description  
False  
Left is different from Right.  
True  
Left is equal to Right.  

 

Delphi Examples: 

{
This example demonstrates the usage of TCustomComparer.
The example assumes two memos and two buttons are present on the form.
}

type
  { Declare a custom string comparer descendant from TCustomComparer }
  TCustomStringComparer = class(TCustomComparer<String>)
  public
    function Compare(const Left, Right: String): Integer; override;
    function Equals(const Left, Right: String): Boolean; override;
    function GetHashCode(const Value: String): Integer; override;
  end;

{ TCustomStringComparer }

function TCustomStringComparer.Compare(const Left, Right: String): Integer;
begin
  { Make a case insensitive comparison }
  Result := CompareText(Left, Right);
end;

function TCustomStringComparer.Equals(const Left, Right: String): Boolean;
begin
  { Make a case insensitive comparison }
  Result := CompareText(Left, Right) = 0;
end;

function TCustomStringComparer.GetHashCode(const Value: String): Integer;
begin
  { Generate a hash code. Simply return the length of the string
    as its hash code }
  Result := Length(Value);
end;

procedure TForm3.btSortClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  List: TList<String>;
  I: Integer;
begin
  { Create a new list of strings with our custom comparer }
  List := TList<String>.Create(TCustomStringComparer.Create());

  { Populate the list with numbers in the memo }
  for I := 0 to InMemo.Lines.Count - 1 do
    List.Add(InMemo.Lines[I]);

  { Sort the list }
  List.Sort();

  { Copy the list with numbers to the memo }
  OutMemo.Clear;

  for I := 0 to List.Count - 1 do
    OutMemo.Lines.Add(List[I]);

  { Free resources }
  List.Free();
end;

procedure TForm3.btCountClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  Dictionary: TDictionary<String, Cardinal>;
  I: Integer;
  AString: String;
begin
  { Create a new dictionary of string/cardinal }
  Dictionary := TDictionary<String, Cardinal>.Create(TCustomStringComparer.Create());

  { Populate the dictionary with strings in the memo }
  for I := 0 to InMemo.Lines.Count - 1 do
  begin
    { Get the list from the memo }
    AString := InMemo.Lines[I];

    { If the string is already in the dictionary, increase its count
      by one. Otherwise add it with one by default.
    }
    if Dictionary.ContainsKey(AString) then
      Dictionary[AString] := Dictionary[AString] + 1
    else
      Dictionary.Add(InMemo.Lines[I], 1);
  end;

  { Copy the list with numbers to the memo }
  OutMemo.Clear;

  { Now populate the out memo with string and the number of times it was
    present in the initial memo}
  for AString in Dictionary.Keys do
    OutMemo.Lines.Add(AString + ':' + UIntToStr(Dictionary[AString]));

  { Free resources }
  Dictionary.Free();
end;

 

Copyright(C) 2009 Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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