How to synchronize a list and an enumerable in an effective way?

Question

I often have the problem, that I need to synchronize two lists in C#. For example, I have a simple array of strings. these strings I want to load into the Items list of a Listview in a very simple way. I also want to update the listview with a minimal exchange of items.

example:

 var strings = new List<string>() { "a", "b", "c", "d" };
 listview1.Items.Synchronize(strings);
 strings.Add("xx");
 listview1.Items.Synchronize(strings); // just create a new item for xx

Answer 1

I have here a short extension function, which synchronizes two lists with different types. Lambda extension functions do the conversion. example usage:

        listView1.Items.SyncList(strings, lvItem => lvItem.Tag as string, str => new ListViewItem(str) { Tag = str });

the extension function is defined as this:

    /// <summary>
    /// synchronizes an enumerable with a list with two different types, 
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="TSource">Type of the elements in the source list</typeparam>
    /// <typeparam name="TDestination">Type of the elements in the destination list</typeparam>
    /// <param name="source">Source</param>
    /// <param name="destination">Destination list</param>
    /// <param name="selector">returns the corresponding source object for the destination list item</param>
    /// <param name="creator">Creates new object for the destination list from the source. The selection function applied on the new object must return the source object. </param>
    public static void SyncList<TSource, TDestination>(this IList destination, IEnumerable<TSource> source, Func<TDestination, TSource> selector, Func<TSource, TDestination> creator)
        where TDestination : class
        where TSource : class
    {
        if (source == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("source");

        if (destination == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("destination");

        if (selector == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("selector");

        if (creator == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("creator");

        var syncObject = destination.IsSynchronized ? destination.SyncRoot : new object();

        lock (syncObject)
        {
            var ExistingItems = destination.OfType<TDestination>().Where(d => selector(d) != null).ToDictionary(d => selector(d));

            foreach (var s in source)
            {
                if (!ExistingItems.Remove(s)) // s does not exist yet in the destination list
                {
                    var NewObject = creator(s);

                    if (selector(NewObject) != s)
                        throw new ArgumentException("the selector must return the creation object of the new item");

                    destination.Add(creator(s));
                }
            }

            var RemovedItems = ExistingItems.Values;

            if (RemovedItems.Count == destination.Count)
                destination.Clear();
            else
                foreach (var i in RemovedItems)
                {
                    destination.Remove(i);
                }

        }

    }