.net - List of elements doesnt follow my recursion method c# -

i've got method calls (recursion). collects data need analyse. collects data in dto. dto setup:

    public class sequencedto     {         public string sequence { get; set; }         public list<element> statelist { get; set; }          public sequencedto()         { }          public sequencedto(string sequence, list<element> statelist)         {             this.sequence = sequence;             this.statelist = statelist;         }     } 

this how initialize recursion method:

string seq = ""; list<element> elmlist = new list<element>(); initialseqdto.sequence = seq; initialseqdto.statelist = elmlist; analyze(element, initialseqdto); //the recursion method 

the recursion method:

public void handleeventanalysis3(element elm, sequencedto dto) {     sequencedto newseqdto = new sequencedto();     list<element> elmlist = new list<element>();     elmlist = dto.statelist;     newseqdto.sequence = dto.sequence;     newseqdto.statelist = elmlist;      newseqdto.statelist.add(clientelement);      if (!clientelement.name.equals("initial"))          handleeventanalysis3(clientelement, newseqdto);      if (clientelement.name.equals("initial"))     {         sequencelist.add(newseqdto);     } } 

this adding sequencedto's sequencelist. dto.statelist same every sequencedto. how can be?

you create new list<element>:

list<element> elmlist = new list<element>(); 

but override reference old list:

elmlist = dto.statelist; 

instead, can call tolist() generate new list:

newseqdto.statelist = dto.statelist.tolist();