Wordsearch c# – Word class

I am just doing a test/comparsion between the different ways of getting a similar code syntax to work in different languages for a similar project idea. The main project idea is wordsearch grid with words inserted onto the grid, I have already done a basic php version and here is the word class in php word. Below there is a full class version of whole class, but also some parts that I have expanded to try and explain in more detail.

This code will return a String array from a ArrayList type. The ToArray changes the ArrayList to type of string then the “as string[]” returns the list of string as a string array.

			return (arrayL.ToArray(typeof(string)) as string[]);

Here is the word class in c#, I have added allot of code comments to give details of what is happening.

using System;
using System.Xml;
using System.Collections;

namespace wordsearchcsharp
{
	class Word 
	{
		private String[] _words;
		
	 	public  Word() : this("words.xml", 5) {}
		 
		public Word(string wordsOrFilename, int maxSearchNum)
		{
			this._words = new String[maxSearchNum];
			// just load from a file the words to search, instead of input as well.
			String[] loadedWords = loadWords(wordsOrFilename);
			
			// create the searchable words from the loadedwords array.
			this._words = this.searchableWords(loadedWords, maxSearchNum);
		}
		
		private String[] loadWords(string filename)
		{
			XmlTextReader fileReader = new XmlTextReader(filename);
						
			ArrayList fileArray = new ArrayList();
			
			while (fileReader.Read())
			{
				// get the NodeType from the XML reader, different types
				// Element = name of element
				// Text = the actual text/word
				// End Element = end of the element name
			    switch (fileReader.NodeType) 
			    {
					// if there is a word in the file e.g. not a end/element
					  case XmlNodeType.Text: 
							fileArray.Add(fileReader.Value);
				            break;
			    }
			}
			// change the ArrayList into a String[] array using the ToArray method
			return (fileArray.ToArray(typeof(string)) as string[]);
		}

		// create a list of words from the words passed in and also 
		// the maximum number is the maxSearchNum.
		private String[] searchableWords(String[] words, int maxSearchNum)
		{
			ArrayList returnWords = new ArrayList();
			
			// if the maxsearch value is greater or equal to the number of words to search for 
			// just return the words string[].
			if (words.Length <= maxSearchNum)
			{
				return words;
			}
			else
			{
				// create a good seed for the random generator.
				Random randGen = new Random((int)DateTime.Now.Ticks);
				int randomNum;
				// randomly pick out words from the array
				for (int i = 0; i < maxSearchNum; i++)
				{
					// pick a random number
					randomNum = randGen.Next(0, words.Length);
					// add to the array list to return
					returnWords.Add(words[randomNum]);
					// rebuild the array with removing the random number generated.
					words = rebuildArray(words, randomNum);
				}
			}
			// convert back to the String[] 
			return (returnWords.ToArray(typeof(string)) as string[]);
		}
 
		private String[] rebuildArray(String[] rebuildSt, int numberToTakeOut)
		{
			ArrayList arrayL = new ArrayList();
			// out of range error.
			if (rebuildSt.Length < numberToTakeOut)
			{
				return rebuildSt;
			}
			else
			{
				for (int i =0; i < rebuildSt.Length; i++)
				{
					// only add in the words that are not the
					// numberToTakeOut word from the array
					if (i != numberToTakeOut)
					{
						arrayL.Add(rebuildSt[i]);
					}
				}
			}
			return (arrayL.ToArray(typeof(string)) as string[]);
		}
		
		public void printOutWords()
		{
			Console.Write("Words : (");
			for (int i = 0; i < this._words.Length; i++)
			{
				Console.Write("  " + i + " = " + this._words[i]);
			}
			Console.Write(")\n");
		}

		public String[] returnWords()
		{
			return this._words;
		}
	}
	
	class MainClass
	{
		public static void Main(string[] args)
		{
			Word word = new Word("words.xml",3);
                        word.printOutWords();
		}
	}
}

and a output would be

Words : (  0 = he  1 = old  2 = sole)