Qfyilyi

I am trying to create an Animal Classification System in C# where you specify the kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species of an animal and the program outputs what animal it is.

I am using a dictionary to represent all of the animals with a string animalType, string animalAttributes

To get it to work, I need to be able to find the key of a dictionary for a given value, which I created a method for, but I keep getting an out of index error.

I have looked through a few posts already but unfortunately, I couldn't find anything that solved this.

Thanks in advance for your help!

My Code

Animal.cs

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Threading.Tasks;



namespace Challenge_4___Classification

{

    class Animal

    {

        /* Propeties */



        public string AnimalType { get; private set; } = "none";

        private static Dictionary<string, string> AnimalDictionary { get; set; } = new Dictionary<string, string>();

        public string Kingdom { get; set; }

        public string Phylum { get; set; }

        public string Class { get; set; }

        public string Order { get; set; }

        public string Family { get; set; }

        public string Genus { get; set; }

        public string Species { get; set; }

        public string AnimalAttributes { get; set; } = new string[7];



        /****************************************************************************************/



        /* Constructors */



        public Animal(string kingdom, string phylum, string _class, string order, string family, string genus, string species )

        {

            Kingdom = kingdom;

            Phylum = phylum;

            Class = _class;

            Order = order;

            Family = family;

            Genus = genus;

            Species = species;



            SetAnimalAttirbutes();

            AddDomesticAnimals();

        }



        /****************************************************************************************/



        /* Methods */



        public void SetAnimalAttirbutes()

        {

            AnimalAttributes[0] = Kingdom;

            AnimalAttributes[1] = Phylum;

            AnimalAttributes[2] = Class;

            AnimalAttributes[3] = Order;

            AnimalAttributes[4] = Family;

            AnimalAttributes[5] = Genus;

            AnimalAttributes[6] = Species;

        }



        private void AddDomesticAnimals()

        {

            AnimalDictionary.Add("horse", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata" , "mammalia", "perissodactyla", "equidae", "equus", "ferus" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("cow", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "artiodactyla", "bovidae", "bos", "taurus" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("sheep", new string[7] { "animallia", "chordata", "mammalia", "artiodactyla", "bovidae", "ovis", "aries" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("pig", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "artiodactyla", "suidae", "sus", "scrofa" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("dog", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "carnivora", "canidae", "canis", "lupus" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("cat", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "carnivora", "felidae", "felis", "silvestris" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("lion", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "carnivora", "felidae", "panthera", "leo" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("tiger", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "carnivora", "felidae", "panthera", "tigris" });

            /*AnimalDictionary.Add("dolphin", new string[7] { "", "", "", "", "", "", "" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("seal", new string[7] { "", "", "", "", "", "", "" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("penguin", new string[7] { "", "", "", "", "", "", "" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("ostrich", new string[7] { "", "", "", "", "", "", "" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("sparrow", new string[7] { "", "", "", "", "", "", "" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("spider", new string[7] { "", "", "", "", "", "", "" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("ant", new string[7] { "", "", "", "", "", "", "" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("bee", new string[7] { "", "", "", "", "", "", "" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("wasp", new string[7] { "", "", "", "", "", "", "" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("termite", new string[7] { "", "", "", "", "", "", "" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("octopus", new string[7] { "", "", "", "", "", "", "" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("squid", new string[7] { "", "", "", "", "", "", "" } );*/

        }



        private void AddWhales()

        {

            // Aetiocetidae

                // Aetiocetus

            AnimalDictionary.Add("whale1", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "cetartiodactyla", "aetiocetidae", "aetiocetus", "cotylalveus" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("whale2", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "cetartiodactyla", "aetiocetidae", "aetiocetus", "polydentatus" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("whale3", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "cetartiodactyla", "aetiocetidae", "aetiocetus", "tomitai" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("whale4", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "cetartiodactyla", "aetiocetidae", "aetiocetus", "weltoni" } );

                // Ashorocetus

            AnimalDictionary.Add("whale5", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "cetartiodactyla", "aetiocetidae", "ashorocetus", "eguchii" } );

                // Chonocetus

            AnimalDictionary.Add("whale6", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "cetartiodactyla", "aetiocetidae", "chonocetus", "sookensis" } );

                // Fucaia

            AnimalDictionary.Add("whale7", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "cetartiodactyla", "aetiocetidae", "fucaia", "buelli" } );

            AnimalDictionary.Add("whale8", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "cetartiodactyla", "aetiocetidae", "fucaia", "goedertorum" } );

                // Morawanocetus

            AnimalDictionary.Add("whale9", new string[7] { "animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "cetartiodactyla", "aetiocetidae", "morawanocetus", "yabukii" } );

        }







        public string GetDictionaryKey(string targetValue)

        {

            List<string> valuesList = new List<string>();

            List<string> keysList = new List<string>();



            var values = AnimalDictionary.Values;

            var keys = AnimalDictionary.Keys;





            foreach (string value in values)

            {

                valuesList.Add(value);

            }



            foreach (string key in keys)

            {

                keysList.Add(key);

            }



            int valueIndex = valuesList.IndexOf(targetValue);



            return keysList[valueIndex];

        }



        public void Test()

        {

            if (AnimalDictionary.ContainsValue(AnimalAttributes))

            {

                AnimalType = GetDictionaryKey(AnimalAttributes);

            }

            else

            {

                AnimalType = "none";

            }

        }

    }

}

Program.cs

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Threading.Tasks;



namespace Challenge_4___Classification

{

    class Program

    {

        static void Main(string args)

        {

            Animal dog = new Animal("animalia", "chordata", "mammalia", "carnivora", "canidae", "canis", "lupus");



            Console.WriteLine(dog.AnimalType);

            dog.Test();

            Console.WriteLine(dog.AnimalType);

            Console.WriteLine(dog.GetDictionaryKey(dog.AnimalAttributes));

            Console.ReadLine();

        }

    }

}

The issue is that you are assuming that the instance on this line is the same which is not. The instance for targetValue is not the same as the one inserted in the valuesList even if the values are the same.

int valueIndex = valuesList.IndexOf(targetValue);

Change to:

public string GetDictionaryKey(string targetValue)

{

    List<string> valuesList = new List<string>();

    List<string> keysList = new List<string>();



    var values = AnimalDictionary.Values;

    var keys = AnimalDictionary.Keys;





    foreach (string value in values)

    {

        valuesList.Add(value);

    }



    foreach (string key in keys)

    {

        keysList.Add(key);

    }



    var entry = values.FirstOrDefault(r => r.SequenceEqual(targetValue));



    int valueIndex = valuesList.IndexOf(entry);



    return keysList[valueIndex];

}

Note that arrays are reference types and not primitive types. Only primitive types can be directly used on the .IndexOf method when you are not working with the same variable instances.

Arrays are mechanisms that allow you to treat several items as a
single collection. The Microsoft® .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR)
supports single-dimensional arrays, multidimensional arrays, and
jagged arrays (arrays of arrays). All array types are implicitly
derived from System.Array, which itself is derived from System.Object.
This means that all arrays are always reference types which are
allocated on the managed heap, and your app's variable contains a
reference to the array and not the array itself.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb985948.aspx