Question

I am reading a file and information is provided line by line (this I can’t change). I want to create an object if the line has x value and if the line has y value, assign some values to the object. this proves to be very challenging. obviously I am doing something wrong.

if (line_split[i].Contains("LabelId"))
{
   try
   {
       gen.m_LabelId_pos.Add(multicast_ports[3], i);
       multicast my_multicast = new multicast();
   }
   catch
   {
   }
}
else if (line_split[i].Contains("TotalFrameSentCount_PerSecond"))
{
    try
    {                                    
        gen.m_TotalFrameSentCount_PerSecond_pos.Add(multicast_ports[3], i);
        // want to assign y value to the object here. but cant
    }
    catch
    {
    }
}

Answer 1

You can declare the object outside of the if statement, instantiate it in the if block and set it’s value in the else block after you have checked that it isn’t null. Something like this:

multicast my_multicast = null;
if (line_split[i].Contains("LabelId"))
{
   try
   {
       gen.m_LabelId_pos.Add(multicast_ports[3], i);
       my_multicast = new multicast();
   }
   catch
   {
   }
}
else if (line_split[i].Contains("TotalFrameSentCount_PerSecond"))
{
    try
    {                                    
        gen.m_TotalFrameSentCount_PerSecond_pos.Add(multicast_ports[3], i);
        if(my_multicast!=null)
        {
            //do something with my_multicast here
        }
    }
    catch
    {
    }
}

As an aside note, you should avoid eating your Exceptions, they are meant to help you if something goes wrong, this way catch block will hide them and you won’t have a clue what went wrong. Use

catch(Exception err)
{
}