Question

I have created a library class CircuitController that communicates with a control circuit via serial port.

public class CircuitController
{
   // Enumerations.
   public enum Sensors { Sensor1, Sensor2, ..., Sensor15 };
   ...

   // Fields.
   private SerialPort serialPort;  // Set in constructor.
   private Dictionary<Sensors, Sensor> activeSensorCollection;
   ...

   // Properties.
   public Dictionary<Sensors, Sensor> ActiveSensors
   { get { return this.activeSensorCollection; } }       

   // Methods.
   public void SetSensorUnits(Sensors sensor, String sensorUnits)
   {
      // Creates serial command based off parameters, sends, receives, processes.
   }
   ...

   // Constructors.
   public CircuitController(...)
   {
      ... // Set CircuitController fields including nested classes.
      Sensor sensor1 = new Sensor(a,b,c,d,this);  // Link sensor to this controller instance.
      ... // Add sensors to dictionary.
   }          

   // Nested Classes.
   public class Sensor
   {
      // Fields.
      private CircuitController controller;   
      private String units;
      private Sensors sensorNumber;
      ...

      // Properties.
      public String Units
      {
         get
         {
            return this.controller.GetSensorUnits(this.sensorNumber);
         }
         set
         {
            this.controller.SetSensorUnits(this.sensorNumber, value);
          }
      }
      ...
   }

So here is my questions: Is it OK to allow the user to get/set the sensor settings through properties even though an exception may be thrown (e.g. serial communication error)?

String sensor2Units = circuitControllerInstance.ActiveSensors[Sensor2].Units'
circuitControllerInstance.ActiveSensors[Sensor1].Units = "mm";

I find this much clearer than…

String sensor2Units = circuitControllerInstance.GetSensorUnits(Sensors.Sensor2);
circuitControllerInstance.SetSensorUnits(Sensors.Sensor1, "mm");

Please note that these are simplified examples, some of the Get/Set methods have up to 5 parameters which would be a hassle to repeatedly type out. :/

Answer 1

I would tend to avoid actually doing anything when a property is set. Instead let all the properties be set in memory, then add a “Save” method that will “save” the properties to the serial device.