Populate array of objects from namevaluecollection in c#

Question

I am new to C#. Here is a hard-coded thing I got working:

InputProperty grantNumber = new InputProperty();
grantNumber.Name = "udf:Grant Number";
grantNumber.Val = "571-1238";

Update update = new Update();
update.Items = new InputProperty[] { grantNumber };

Now I want to generalize this to support an indefinite number of items in the Update object and I came up with this but it fails to compile:

Update update = BuildMetaData(nvc);  //call function to build Update object

and the function itself here:

private Update BuildMetaData(NameValueCollection nvPairs)
{
    Update update = new Update();
    InputProperty[] metaData;       // declare array of InputProperty objects
    int i = 0;
    foreach (string key in nvPairs.Keys)
    {
        metaData[i] = new InputProperty();      // compiler complains on this line
        metaData[i].Name = "udf:" + key;
        foreach (string value in nvPairs.GetValues(key))
            metaData[i].Val = value;
    }
    update.Items = metaData;
    return update;      // return the Update object
}

Answer 1

Since the size of your Items collection can vary, you should use a collection type like List<T> or Dictionary<K,V> instead of an array.