Dictionary<int, string> dictionary = new Dictionary<int, string>(); dictionary.Add(1, "Mark Moeykens"); dictionary.Add(2, "Jake Agee"); // Will add "Rich Talbot" if indexer (3) not found. dictionary[3] = "Rich Talbot"; string person = dictionary[3]; // Rich TalbotIn this example I made the key an int and the value a string.
Not all the time will you know if a key exists when you look up a value in your Dictionary. Two ways you can go about trying to get a name:
string name; if (dictionary.TryGetValue(4, out name)) name = "Found: " + name; else name = "No name found.";TryGetValue method returns true if the key is found and puts the found value into the "name" variable in this case.
string name2; if (dictionary.ContainsKey(4)) name2 = "Found: " + dictionary[4]; else name2 = "No name found.";This example just checks to see if it exists and then gets the value on a seperate line if true.
More Info: MSDN: Dictionary<TKey, TValue> Generic Class