[API Proposal]: Allow ControlCollection.AddRange to use params keyword.

[ALiwoto]

Background and motivation

Currently Control.ControlCollection.AddRange method is accepting an array of Control, this means each time that we want to add multiple controls at once, we have to make a new array. By using params keyword using this method will become easier.

API Proposal

• Add params keyword to all collection AddRange methods that don't already have it.

namespace System.Windows.Forms;

public class Control
{
    public class ControlCollection
    {
        public virtual void AddRange(params Control[] controls);
    }
}

Likewise we want to update our other collections that have an AddRange:

// Note that parameter names are left as they currently are.

System.ComponentModel.Design.DesignerActionListCollection.AddRange(params DesignerActionList[] value)
System.Windows.Forms.AutoCompleteStringCollection.AddRange(params string[] value)
System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox.ObjectCollection.AddRange(params object[] items)
System.Windows.Forms.Design.Behavior.BehaviorServiceAdornerCollection.AddRange(params Adorner[] value)
System.Windows.Forms.Design.Behavior.GlyphCollection.AddRange(params Glyph[] value)
System.Windows.Forms.ImageList.ImageCollection.AddRange(params Image[] images)
System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.IntegerCollection.AddRange(params int[] items)
System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.ObjectCollection.AddRange(params object[] items)
System.Windows.Forms.ListView.ListViewItemCollection.AddRange(params ListViewItem[] items)
System.Windows.Forms.ListView.ColumnHeaderCollection.AddRange(params ColumnHeader[] values)
System.Windows.Forms.ListViewGroupCollection.AddRange(params ListViewGroup[] groups)
System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItem.ListViewSubItemCollection.AddRange(params ListViewSubItem[] items)
System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItem.ListViewSubItemCollection.AddRange(params string[] items)
System.Windows.Forms.TabControl.TabPageCollection.AddRange(params TabPage[] pages)
System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItemCollection.AddRange(params ToolStripItem[] toolStripItems)
System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripPanel.ToolStripPanelRowCollection.AddRange(params ToolStripPanelRow[] value)
System.Windows.Forms.TreeNodeCollection.AddRange(params TreeNode[] nodes)

API Usage

this.Controls.AddRange(this.BtnControl1, this.BtnControl2);

Risks

No known risks.

Will this feature affect UI controls?

• No, VS Designer doesn't need to support this feature.
• The impact will be easier use of this method by users.
• No, this feature doesn't need to be localized.

[JeremyKuhne]

This is great, we should expand it to list the other collections where we have an AddRange(). @ALiwoto you can find the other ones by looking through the PublicAPI.shipped.txt file, would you be able to add the others? All you need is the API surface area. I've added one to the summary. If you can't, that's fine, I'll get to it when I have some time free.

[ALiwoto]

@JeremyKuhne Sure, should I make another PR after finding them? Or I can just push to my current fork?

[JeremyKuhne]

@ALiwoto listing them here is the priority. You can just expand the existing PR, but we won't be able to take it until we've got this approved by the .NET API review board. Please tag me when you think you've got everything listed here and I'll work on getting the official approval.

[elachlan]

Awesome! Great idea, minimal api impact, and improves usability.

[ALiwoto]

@JeremyKuhne
Here is the list I found:

• System.ComponentModel.Design.DesignerActionListCollection.AddRange(DesignerActionList?[] value)
• System.Windows.Forms.Design.Behavior.BehaviorServiceAdornerCollection.AddRange(Adorner[] value)
• System.Windows.Forms.Design.Behavior.GlyphCollection.AddRange(Glyph[] value)
• System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.AddRange(object[] items)
• System.Windows.Forms.ListViewGroupCollection.AddRange(ListViewGroup[] groups)
• System.Windows.Forms.ListViewGroupItemCollection.AddRange(ListViewItem[] items)
• System.Windows.Forms.AutoCompleteStringCollection.AddRange(string[] value)
• System.Windows.Forms.ListView.ListViewItemCollection.AddRange(ListViewItem[] items)
• System.Windows.Forms.ListView.ColumnHeaderCollection.AddRange(ColumnHeader[] values)
• System.ComponentModel.Design.DesignerActionListCollection.AddRange(DesignerActionList?[] value)
• System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox.ObjectCollection.AddRange(object[] items)
• System.Windows.Forms.Design.ControlDesigner.DesignerControlCollection.AddRange(Control[] controls)
• System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.IntegerCollection.AddRange(int[] items)
• System.Windows.Forms.ImageList.ImageCollection.AddRange(Image[] images)
• System.Windows.Forms.ListView.ListViewNativeItemCollection.AddRange(ListViewItem[] values)
• System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripPanel.ToolStripPanelRowCollection.AddRange(ToolStripPanelRow[] value)
• System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItemCollection.AddRange(ToolStripItem[] toolStripItems)
• System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItem.ListViewSubItemCollection.AddRange(ListViewSubItem[] items)
• System.Windows.Forms.ListViewItem.ListViewSubItemCollection.AddRange(string[] items)
• System.Windows.Forms.TreeNodeCollection.AddRange(TreeNode[] nodes)
• System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlCollection.AddRange(Control[] controls)
• System.Windows.Forms.TabControl.TabPageCollection.AddRange(TabPage[] pages)
• System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripPanelRow.ToolStripPanelRowControlCollection.AddRange(Control[] value)
• System.Windows.Forms.Design.CustomMenuItemCollection.AddRange(ToolStripItem[] value)

24 in total.

---

I also found about System.Windows.Forms.NonNullCollection<T>.AddRange(IEnumerable<T> items):

/// <summary>
///  Adds the items in <paramref name="items"/> to the collection.
/// </summary>
public void AddRange(IEnumerable<T> items)

But the issue with it is that it takes IEnumerable<T> as argument, so we can't use params keyword for it (Perhaps we can overload it?)

[elachlan]

NonNullCollection is Internal. So we can make a breaking change if it makes sense.

[JeremyKuhne]

Here is the list I found:

Thanks @ALiwoto. I've double checked and removed the internal ones. I've updated the proposal with the complete list.

[terrajobst]

Video

• Looks good as proposed

namespace System.Windows.Forms;

public partial class Control
{
    public partial class ControlCollection
    {
        // Existing signature:
        // public virtual void AddRange(Control[] controls);
        public virtual void AddRange(params Control[] controls);
    }
}

[elachlan]

@ALiwoto did you want to do the PR to implement it?

[ALiwoto]

@elachlan

did you want to do the PR to implement it?

Yes.

@JeremyKuhne can I commit the changes to my current PR? Or I have to revert the last commit from it first?

[JeremyKuhne]

@ALiwoto you should probably change all of these in one PR. You can do it in your existing PR. Note, however, that you don't add to the shipped API file. There is an autofix for adding the changes to the unshipped file. Just build in VS and you can use the lightbulb to add them. You need to build both release and debug.

[John-Qiao]

Verified this issue in feature/9.0 branch, the params keyword is added to arguments of ControlCollection.AddRange method now, so closed it.