Question

I have a method that is over 700+ lines long. In the beginning of the method, there are around 50 local variables declared. I decided to take the local variables out and put them into a separate class as properties so I could just declare the class in the method and use the properties through out it. Is this perfectly fine or does another data type fit in here such as a struct? This method was written during classic ASP times.

Answer 1

I have a method that is over 700+ lines long. In the beginning of the method, there are around 50 local variables declared.

Ok, so, the length of that method is also a problem. 700 lines is just too much to keep straight in one normal person’s head all at once. When you have to fix a bug in there you end up scrolling up and down and up and down and… you get the idea. It really makes things hard to maintain.

So my answer is, yes, you should likely split up your data into a structure of some sort assuming that it actually makes sense to do so (i.e., I probably wouldn’t create a SomeMethodParmaters class). The next thing to do is to split that method out into smaller pieces. You may even find that you no longer need a data structure as now each method only has a handful of variables declared for the work it needs to do.

Also, this is subjective, but there is really no good reason to declare all variables at the top of the method. Try declaring them as close to when they are actually used as possible. Again, this just keeps things nice and clean for maintenance in the future. It’s much easier to concentrate on one section of code when you can see it all on the screen.