Question

Can someone tell me if this is valid code:

get
{
    return string.IsNullOrEmpty(TopicID) ? null : 
           TopicID == "00" ? "All Topics" :     
           int.Parse(TopicID).ToString();
}

I want the get to return a null, return the words “All Topics” if it is “00” or return the number without leading zeros.

The code looks messy but I am not sure if there’s a more clean way for me to code it.

Answer 1

The compiler will tell you whether or not it’s valid code 🙂

Others may suggest using if statements instead of the conditional operator. I’m happy enough with the conditional operator here, but I’d change the formatting for clarity:

return string.IsNullOrEmpty(TopicID) ? null 
    : TopicID == "00" ? "All Topics" 
    : int.Parse(TopicID).ToString();

This is one example of this pattern:

[assignment or return] = condition-1 ? value-1
    : condition-2 ? value-2
    : condition-3 ? value-3
      ...
    : fallback-value;

I’ve found this pattern to be quite helpful and readable. The fact that it looks a little like F# is entirely coincidental 🙂