Question

I have an expression and 2 ways of splitting it:

List<string> list = 
            collection.Select(
                control => SearchForControl(
                    control, someOtherParameters)).Select(
                        customControl => customControl.InnerText).ToList();

List<string> list = collection.
                    Select(control => SearchForControl(control, someOtherParameters)).
                    Select(customControl => customControl.InnerText).ToList();

What is more readable/better?
Where to put dots in the second case: at the beginning or end of the line?

Answer 1

I think pretty much everyone would consider the second to be more readable, since it justifies the query operations (Select, Where, etc) prettily one below the other.

For the dots, I would place them at the start of the line like this:

var list = collection
               .Select(control => SearchForControl(control, someOtherParameters))
               .Select(customControl => customControl.InnerText)
               .ToList();

The reason is that it’s easier to copy/paste lines from or to this expression without breaking the syntax.