How you expose a collection depends entirely on how users are intended to interact with it.
1) If users will be adding and removing items from an object's collection, then a simple get-only collection property is best (option #1 from the original question):
private readonly Collection<T> myCollection_ = new ...;
public Collection<T> MyCollection {
get { return this.myCollection_; }
}
This strategy is used for the Items collections on the WindowsForms and WPF ItemsControl controls, where users add and remove items they want the control to display. These controls publish the actual collection and use callbacks or event listeners to keep track of items.
WPF also exposes some settable collections to allow users to display a collection of items they control, such as the ItemsSource property on ItemsControl (option #3 from the original question). However, this is not a common use case.
2) If users will only be reading data maintained by the object, then you can use a readonly collection, as Quarrelsome suggested:
private readonly List<T> myPrivateCollection_ = new ...;
private ReadOnlyCollection<T> myPrivateCollectionView_;
public ReadOnlyCollection<T> MyCollection {
get {
if( this.myPrivateCollectionView_ == null ) { /* lazily initialize view */ }
return this.myPrivateCollectionView_;
}
}
Note that ReadOnlyCollection<T> provides a live view of the underlying collection, so you only need to create the view once.
If the internal collection does not implement IList<T>, or if you want to restrict access to more advanced users, you can instead wrap access to the collection through an enumerator:
public IEnumerable<T> MyCollection {
get {
foreach( T item in this.myPrivateCollection_ )
yield return item;
}
}
This approach is simple to implement and also provides access to all the members without exposing the internal collection. However, it does require that the collection remain unmodfied, as the BCL collection classes will throw an exception if you try to enumerate a collection after it has been modified. If the underlying collection is likely to change, you can either create a light wrapper that will enumerate the collection safely, or return a copy of the collection.
3) Finally, if you need to expose arrays rather than higher-level collections, then you should return a copy of the array to prevent users from modifying it (option #2 from the orginal question):
private T[] myArray_;
public T[] GetMyArray( ) {
T[] copy = new T[this.myArray_.Length];
this.myArray_.CopyTo( copy, 0 );
return copy;
// Note: if you are using LINQ, calling the 'ToArray( )'
// extension method will create a copy for you.
}
You should not expose the underlying array through a property, as you will not be able to tell when users modify it. To allow modifying the array, you can either add a corresponding SetMyArray( T[] array ) method, or use a custom indexer:
public T this[int index] {
get { return this.myArray_[index]; }
set {
// TODO: validate new value; raise change event; etc.
this.myArray_[index] = value;
}
}
(of course, by implementing a custom indexer, you will be duplicating the work of the BCL classes :)