I created a DefaultableDictionary to do exactly what you are asking for!
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
namespace DefaultableDictionary {
public class DefaultableDictionary<TKey, TValue> : IDictionary<TKey, TValue> {
private readonly IDictionary<TKey, TValue> dictionary;
private readonly TValue defaultValue;
public DefaultableDictionary(IDictionary<TKey, TValue> dictionary, TValue defaultValue) {
this.dictionary = dictionary;
this.defaultValue = defaultValue;
}
public IEnumerator<KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue>> GetEnumerator() {
return dictionary.GetEnumerator();
}
IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator() {
return GetEnumerator();
}
public void Add(KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue> item) {
dictionary.Add(item);
}
public void Clear() {
dictionary.Clear();
}
public bool Contains(KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue> item) {
return dictionary.Contains(item);
}
public void CopyTo(KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue>[] array, int arrayIndex) {
dictionary.CopyTo(array, arrayIndex);
}
public bool Remove(KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue> item) {
return dictionary.Remove(item);
}
public int Count {
get { return dictionary.Count; }
}
public bool IsReadOnly {
get { return dictionary.IsReadOnly; }
}
public bool ContainsKey(TKey key) {
return dictionary.ContainsKey(key);
}
public void Add(TKey key, TValue value) {
dictionary.Add(key, value);
}
public bool Remove(TKey key) {
return dictionary.Remove(key);
}
public bool TryGetValue(TKey key, out TValue value) {
if (!dictionary.TryGetValue(key, out value)) {
value = defaultValue;
}
return true;
}
public TValue this[TKey key] {
get
{
try
{
return dictionary[key];
} catch (KeyNotFoundException) {
return defaultValue;
}
}
set { dictionary[key] = value; }
}
public ICollection<TKey> Keys {
get { return dictionary.Keys; }
}
public ICollection<TValue> Values {
get
{
var values = new List<TValue>(dictionary.Values) {
defaultValue
};
return values;
}
}
}
public static class DefaultableDictionaryExtensions {
public static IDictionary<TKey, TValue> WithDefaultValue<TValue, TKey>(this IDictionary<TKey, TValue> dictionary, TValue defaultValue ) {
return new DefaultableDictionary<TKey, TValue>(dictionary, defaultValue);
}
}
}
This project is a simple decorator for an IDictionary object and an extension method to make it easy to use.
The DefaultableDictionary will allow for creating a wrapper around a dictionary that provides a default value when trying to access a key that does not exist or enumerating through all the values in an IDictionary.
Example: var dictionary = new Dictionary<string, int>().WithDefaultValue(5);
Blog post on the usage as well.