What is the best data structure to implement this? [Nested Properties in C#]

I am trying to figure out how to store and organize the following data efficiently within a data structure in C#. The data are settings which each have a corresponding parameter name (string), label (string), and possibly other items.

For example, the data in C++:

//Analog Inputs
#define PROBETEMPERATURE    "P33352"
#define PROBETEMPERATURE2   "P33353"
... 
//Digital Inputs
#define RACKTEMPERATURE1    "P33384"
#define RACKTEMPERATURE2    "P33385"
...

//Analog Input Labels
#define LBLPROBETEMPERATURE     "Probe Temperature"
#define LBLPROBETEMPERATURE2    "Probe Temperature 2"
...
//Digital Input Labels
#define LBLRACKTEMPERATURE1     "Rack Temperature 1"
#define LBLRACKTEMPERATURE1     "Rack Te开发者_如何学Pythonmperature 2"
...

Is there a way to efficiently structure this using nested properties, simply using const's, or a better way? For example implementation would be:

AnalogInput.PROBETEMPERATURE.Paramater;
AnalogInput.PROBETEMPERATURE.Label;

DigitalInput.RACKTEMPERATURE1.Paramater;
DigitalInput.RACKTEMPERATURE1.Label;

I am trying to avoid creating static objects for each one as there are many.

Thanks.

something like this might help (dont know if it is the best but i would have used it)

declare Class of both types and use them like

public class AnalogInput
{
    public string Label { get; set; }
    public string Parameter { get; set; }
}

public class DigitalInput
{
    public string Label { get; set; }
    public string Parameter { get; set; }
}

You may consume them like

create an instance

DigitalInput digiIn = new DigitalInput();
digiIn.Label = "This is digital Input";
digiIn.Parameter = "This is digital Parameter"

if you want to have many values of digital inputs or analogue input you may want to declare List<DigitalInput> digiData = new List<DigitalInput>();

then add digiIn to it like

digiData.Add(digiIn);

same can be done for analogue

let me show you how

List <DigitalInput> digiData = new List<DigitalInput>();
    for(int x =0;x<10;x++)
    {
       DigitalInput digiIn = new DigitalInput();
       digiIn.Label = "This is digital Input No "+ x.ToString();
       digiIn.Parameter = "This is digital Parameter No "+ x.ToString();
       digiData.Add(digiIn);
    }

and to show the values you may do

foreach (DigitalInput dataToDisplay in digiData )
{
MessageBox.Show("Label is :" + dataToDisplay.Label +" and Parameter is " + dataToDisplay.Parameter);
}

if you used #defines in c++, then probably enum should be your choise

You can use GetName method of Enum class http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.enum.getname.aspx

Also see the last example here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc138362.aspx

Name of each enum value can have '_' in space place ( "Probe_Temperature" instead of "Probe Temperature" ), then simply string.replace or maybe try to write extension method, which will give you correct label

Edit: oops, sorry, i failed you are using strings as params ( "P33352" ), enum is integer, so thats probably not solution for you

I'm assuming that is just a snippet of what you need to do and that the probe/rack temperatures are not static but are in a database or something. Here is a structures that will do what you want:

List<TemperatureInfo> infos = new List<TemperatureInfo>()
{
    new TemperatureInfo("Probe")
    {
    new Temperature("P33352", "Temperature 1"),
    new Temperature("P33353", "Temperature 2"),
    },
    new TemperatureInfo("Rack")
    {
    new Temperature("P33384", "Temperature 1"),
    new Temperature("P33385", "Temperature 2"),
    }
};

public class TemperatureInfo : List<Temperature>
{
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public TemperatureInfo(string name)
    {
    this.Name = name;
    }
}

public class Temperature
{
    public string ID { get; set; }
    public string Label { get; set; }

    public Temperature(string id, string label)
    {
    this.ID = id;
    this.Label = label;
    }
}

PS: I wish SO formatted my code properly. :(

Perhas something like this?

public class Input
{
     public InputType InputType { get; set; }
     public Temperature ProbeTemperature { get; set; }
     public Temperature RackTemperature { get; set; }
}

public class Temperature
{
     public string Parameter { get; set; }
     public string Label { get; set; }
}

public enum InputType
{
     Digital,
     Analog
}

Then use like so:

List<Input> inputs = new List<Input>();

Input x = new Input() { InputType = InputType.Digital };
x.RackTemperature = new Temperature { Parameter = "P", Label = "L" };
x.ProbeTemperature = new Temperature { Parameter = "P', Label = "L" };

inputs.Add(x);

I guess you can go for a generic Settings class which has instance variables like parameter and label. Then you can extend this class for each setting, and add any other parameters.

public class Settings
{
    public readonly string Parameter;
    public readonly string Label;

    public Settings(string parameter, string label)
    {
        Parameter = parameter;
        Label = label;
    }
}

public class ProbeTemperature : Settings
{

..

}

I think all the other answers are also great. Probably you need to be more specific on what you exactly want to achieve.