cCollection Overview

📖 Introduction

cCollection is an enhanced version of the VB Collection class that adds Dictionary-compatible methods, sorting, and key management features on top of the standard Collection.

✨ Key Features

Feature	Description
Dictionary Compatible	Provides Keys/Items/RenameKey methods in Dictionary style
Key Management	Access and modify elements via Key or Index
Sorting	Sort the collection by Key or Value
Safe Updates	Add method automatically handles duplicate Keys (overwrite update)
For Each Support	Supports VB standard iteration syntax

🚀 Quick Start

Creating a Collection and Adding Elements

Dim col As New cCollection

' Add elements with Key
col.Add "John", "user1"
col.Add "Jane", "user2"

' Add elements without Key
col.Add "Plain element"

Accessing Elements

' Access by Key
Dim name As String
name = col.Item("user1")

' Access by Index (starts from 1)
name = col.Item(1)

' Short form (default property)
name = col("user1")

Iterating Through Collection

' For Each iteration
Dim item As Variant
For Each item In col
    Debug.Print item
Next

' Iterate by index
Dim i As Long
For i = 1 To col.Count
    Debug.Print col(i)
Next

Checking if Key Exists

If col.Exists("user1") Then
    Debug.Print "User exists"
End If

' Case-insensitive (default)
If col.Exists("USER1") Then  ' Returns True

📁 Documentation Navigation

Document	Description
methods.md	Method reference (Add, Remove, SortByKey, etc.)
properties.md	Property reference (Count, Item, etc.)

🆚 Comparison with Standard Collection/Dictionary

Feature	Collection	Dictionary	cCollection
Key Access	✓	✓	✓
Index Access	✓	-	✓
Exists Check	-	✓	✓
Keys/Items Methods	-	✓	✓
Sorting	-	-	✓
Duplicate Key Handling	Error	Overwrite	Overwrite
For Each Support	✓	✓	✓

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Last Updated: 2026-05-17