Here's a simple but potentially less efficient way which works without modifying the class itself:
items = items.GroupBy(i => new { i.Year, i.QuarterIndex })
.Select(g => g.First())
.ToList();
Another way is to implement a custom IEqualityComparer<Item> which you can use for Distinct (and other methods in Enumerable class):
public class ItemComparer : IEqualityComparer<Item>
{
public bool Equals(Item lhs, Item rhs)
{
if(lhs == null || rhs == null) return false;
return lhs.Year == rhs.Year && lhs.QuarterIndex == rhs.QuarterIndex;
}
public int GetHashCode(Item item)
{
if(item == null) return 0;
unchecked
{
int hash = 23;
hash = (hash * 31) + item.Year;
hash = (hash * 31) + item.QuarterIndex;
return hash;
}
}
}
Now this works:
items = items.Distinct(new ItemComparer()).ToList();
If you can/want to modify the original class you can override Equals + GetHashCode:
public class Item
{
public int Year { get; set; }
public int QuarterIndex { get; set; }
public override bool Equals(object otherItem)
{
Item other = otherItem as Item;
if (other == null) return false;
return this.Equals(other);
}
public bool Equals(Item otherItem)
{
if(otherItem == null) return false;
return Year == otherItem.Year && QuarterIndex == otherItem.QuarterIndex;
}
public override int GetHashCode()
{
unchecked
{
int hash = 23;
hash = (hash * 31) + Year;
hash = (hash * 31) + QuarterIndex;
return hash;
}
}
}
Then Distinct works "automagically":
items = items.Distinct().ToList();
ItemimplementIEquatable<Item>; 2) use Distinct()