Removal of Duplicate Rows from Data table Based on Multiple columns

Question

I have data table which contains many duplicate rows i need to filter those rows from data table based upon multiple columns to get distinct rows in resultant data table....

Barcode Itemid PacktypeId

1      100      1

1      100      2

1      100      3

1      100      1

1      100      3

need only rows which contains packtypeid 1,2,3 remaining 4th and 5th row should be removed

I have tried using two methods but none didn't turns for better result

Data table contains more than 10 columns but unique column's is "Barcode", "ItemID", "PackTypeID"

Method-1:

 dt_Barcode = dt_Barcode.DefaultView.ToTable(true, "Barcode", "ItemID", "PackTypeID");

The above method filter's the rows but it returns columns only 3 column values i need entire 10 column values.

Method-2:
                   List<string> keyColumns = new List<string>();
                   keyColumns.Add("Barcode");
                   keyColumns.Add("ItemID");
                   keyColumns.Add("PackTypeID");   
           RemoveDuplicates(DataTable table, List<string> keyColumns)
            {
            var uniqueness = new HashSet<string>();
            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
            int rowIndex = 0;
            DataRow row;
            DataRowCollection rows = table.Rows;             
            int i = rows.Count;
            while (rowIndex < i)
            {
                row = rows[rowIndex];
                sb.Length = 0;
                foreach (string colname in keyColumns)
                {
                    sb.Append(row[colname]);
                    sb.Append("|");
                }

                if (uniqueness.Contains(sb.ToString()))
                {
                    rows.Remove(row);
                }
                else
                {
                    uniqueness.Add(sb.ToString());
                    rowIndex++;
                }
               }

The Above Method returns exception like there is no rows at position 5

Answer 1

Method 3:

Instead of Trying above 2 methods i found this Linq Method something very useful

     dt_Barcode = dt_Barcode.AsEnumerable().GroupBy(r => new { ItemID = r.Field<Int64>("ItemID"), PacktypeId = r.Field<Int32>("PackTypeID") }).Select(g => g.First()).CopyToDataTable(); 

Answer 2

It happens because you remove rows.

If you want to preserve the same algorithm, instead of using while (rowIndex < i) use this form of loop:

for (var rowIndex = rows.Count - 1; rowIndex >= 0; rowIndex--)
{
    ...

    if (uniqueness.Contains(sb.ToString()))
    {
        rows.Remove(row);
        rowIndex--;
    }
    ...
}

Answer 3

public void RemoveDuplicatesFromDataTable(ref DataTable table, List<string> keyColumns)
        {

            Dictionary<string, string> uniquenessDict = new Dictionary<string, string>(table.Rows.Count);
            StringBuilder stringBuilder = null;
            int rowIndex = 0;
            DataRow row;
            DataRowCollection rows = table.Rows;
            string error = string.Empty;

            try
            {
                while (rowIndex < rows.Count)
                {

                    row = rows[rowIndex];

                    stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();

                    foreach (string colname in keyColumns)
                    {
                        try
                        {
                            if (row[colname].ToString() != string.Empty)
                            {
                                stringBuilder.Append(((string)row[colname]));
                            }
                            else
                            {
                                //If it comes here, means one of the keys are blank
                                error += "One of the key values is blank.";
                            }
                        }
                        catch (Exception ss)
                        {
                            error += "Error " + ss.Message + ".";
                        }
                    }

                    if (uniquenessDict.ContainsKey(stringBuilder.ToString()))
                    {
                        rows.Remove(row);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        uniquenessDict.Add(stringBuilder.ToString().Replace(",", ""), string.Empty);
                        rowIndex++;
                    }

                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                error = "Failed - " + ex.Message;
            }

            if(error != string.Empty)
                Show`enter code here`(error);
        }