ObservableDictionary Initialisation

I have implemented an ObservableDictionary (code pasted below). If I initialise the ObservableDictionary using the overloaded ctor

public ObservableDictionary(IDictionary<TKey, TValue> dictionary)
{
    dictionary = new Dictionary<TKey, TValue>(dictionary);
}

via

var d = Helpers.GetAvailableSelections((Taurus.Market)MarketFilter.SelectedItem)
    .ToDictionary(t => t.ToString(), t => (object)t);
SelectionItems = new ObservableDictionary<string, object>(d);

in one circumstance in my WPF application SelectionItems has the internal Dictionary as null. If I use the default ctor and then "manually" add the items

var d = Helpers.GetAvailableSelections((Taurus.Market)MarketFilter.SelectedItem)
    .ToDictionary(t => t.ToString(), t => (object)t);
SelectionItems = new ObservableDictionary<string, object>();
foreach (var kvp in d)
    SelectionItems.Add(kvp);

everything is fine. I have looked at the code and can't seem to understand why this is happening. The internal Dictionary is being set correctly when I step through and the thread this code is executing on the the MainThread (UI thread) so this does not appear to be a threading problem.

Why could this be occurring?

Thanks for your time.


ObservableDictionary code:

public class ObservableDictionary<TKey, TValue> : 
    IDictionary<TKey, TValue>, INotifyCollectionChanged, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
    private const string CountString = "Count";
    private const string IndexerName = "Item[]";
    private const string KeysName = "Keys";
    private const string ValuesName = "Values";

    private IDictionary<TKey, TValue> dictionary;
    protected IDictionary<TKey, TValue> Dictionary
    {
        get { return dictionary; }
    }

    #region Constructors
    public ObservableDictionary()
    {
        dictionary = new Dictionary<TKey, TValue>();
    }
    public ObservableDictionary(IDictionary<TKey, TValue> dictionary)
    {
        dictionary = new Dictionary<TKey, TValue>(dictionary);
    }
    public ObservableDictionary(IEqualityComparer<TKey> comparer)
    {
        dictionary = new Dictionary<TKey, TValue>(comparer);
    }
    public ObservableDictionary(int capacity)
    {
        dictionary = new Dictionary<TKey, TValue>(capacity);
    }
    public ObservableDictionary(IDictionary<TKey, TValue> dictionary, IEqualityComparer<TKey> comparer)
    {
        dictionary = new Dictionary<TKey, TValue>(dictionary, comparer);
    }
    public ObservableDictionary(int capacity, IEqualityComparer<TKey> comparer)
    {
        dictionary = new Dictionary<TKey, TValue>(capacity, comparer);
    }
    #endregion

    #region IDictionary<TKey,TValue> Members
    public void Add(TKey key, TValue value)
    {
        Insert(key, value, true);
    }

    public bool ContainsKey(TKey key)
    {
        return Dictionary.ContainsKey(key);
    }

    public ICollection<TKey> Keys
    {
        get { return Dictionary.Keys; }
    }

    public bool Remove(TKey key)
    {
        if (key == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("key");

        TValue value;
        Dictionary.TryGetValue(key, out value);
        var removed = Dictionary.Remove(key);
        if (removed)
            //OnCollectionChanged(NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Remove, new KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue>(key, value));
            OnCollectionChanged();
        return removed;
    }

    public bool TryGetValue(TKey key, out TValue value)
    {
        return Dictionary.TryGetValue(key, out value);
    }

    public ICollection<TValue> Values
    {
        get { return Dictionary.Values; }
    }

    public TValue this[TKey key]
    {
        get
        {
            TValue value;
            return TryGetValue(key, out value) ? value : default(TValue);
        }
        set
        {
            Insert(key, value, false);
        }
    }

    #endregion

    #region ICollection<KeyValuePair<TKey,TValue>> Members
    public void Add(KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue> item)
    {
        Insert(item.Key, item.Value, true);
    }

    public void Clear()
    {
        if (Dictionary.Count > 0)
        {
            Dictionary.Clear();
            OnCollectionChanged();
        }
    }

    public bool Contains(KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue> item)
    {
        return Dictionary.Contains(item);
    }

    public void CopyTo(KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue>[] array, int arrayIndex)
    {
        Dictionary.CopyTo(array, arrayIndex);
    }

    public int Count
    {
        get { return Dictionary.Count; }
    }

    public bool IsReadOnly
    {
        get { return Dictionary.IsReadOnly; }
    }

    public bool Remove(KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue> item)
    {
        return Remove(item.Key);
    }


    #endregion

    #region IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<TKey,TValue>> Members
    public IEnumerator<KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue>> GetEnumerator()
    {
        return Dictionary.GetEnumerator();
    }

    #endregion

    #region IEnumerable Members
    IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
    {
        return ((IEnumerable)Dictionary).GetEnumerator();
    }
    #endregion

    #region INotifyCollectionChanged Members
    public event NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler CollectionChanged;
    #endregion

    #region INotifyPropertyChanged Members
    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
    #endregion

    public void AddRange(IDictionary<TKey, TValue> items)
    {
        if (items == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("items");

        if (items.Count > 0)
        {
            if (Dictionary.Count > 0)
            {
                if (items.Keys.Any((k) => Dictionary.ContainsKey(k)))
                    throw new ArgumentException("An item with the same key has already been added.");
                else
                    foreach (var item in items) Dictionary.Add(item);
            }
            else
                dictionary = new Dictionary<TKey, TValue>(items);
            OnCollectionChanged(NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Add, items.ToArray());
        }
    }

    private void Insert(TKey key, TValue value, bool add)
    {
        if (key == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("key");

        TValue item;
        if (Dictionary.TryGetValue(key, out item))
        {
            if (add) throw new ArgumentException("An item with the same key has already been added.");
            if (Equals(item, value)) return;
            Dictionary[key] = value;

            OnCollectionChanged(NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Replace, 
                new KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue>(key, value), new KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue>(key, item));
            OnPropertyChanged(key.ToString());
        }
        else
        {
            Dictionary[key] = value;

            OnCollectionChanged(NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Add, 
                new KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue>(key, value));
            OnPropertyChanged(key.ToString());
        }
    }

    private void OnPropertyChanged()
    {
        OnPropertyChanged(CountString);
        OnPropertyChanged(IndexerName);
        OnPropertyChanged(KeysName);
        OnPropertyChanged(ValuesName);
    }

    protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
    {
        if (PropertyChanged != null) 
            PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
    }

    private void OnCollectionChanged()
    {
        OnPropertyChanged();
        if (CollectionChanged != null) 
            CollectionChanged(this, 
                new NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs(NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Reset));
    }

    private void OnCollectionChanged(NotifyCollectionChangedAction action, 
        KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue> changedItem)
    {
        OnPropertyChanged();
        if (CollectionChanged != null) CollectionChanged(this, 
            new NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs(action, changedItem, 0));
    }

    private void OnCollectionChanged(NotifyCollectionChangedAction action, 
        KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue> newItem, KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue> oldItem)
    {
        OnPropertyChanged();
        if (CollectionChanged != null) CollectionChanged(this, 
            new NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs(action, newItem, oldItem, 0));
    }

    private void OnCollectionChanged(NotifyCollectionChangedAction action, IList newItems)
    {
        OnPropertyChanged();
        if (CollectionChanged != null) CollectionChanged(this, 
            new NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs(action, newItems, 0));
    }
}
Jon Skeet
people
quotationmark

This constructor is the problem:

public ObservableDictionary(IDictionary<TKey, TValue> dictionary)
{
    dictionary = new Dictionary<TKey, TValue>(dictionary);
}

That's assigning a new value to the parameter, rather than to the field, because that's the meaning of the name dictionary within the block. You need to qualify it with this:

public ObservableDictionary(IDictionary<TKey, TValue> dictionary)
{
    this.dictionary = new Dictionary<TKey, TValue>(dictionary);
}

people

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