Question

I have the following function:

+ (int)isCorrectOnServer:(int)num {

// some code performs here...

if (this)
{
    result = 2;
}
else if (this2)
{
    result = 1;
}
else
{
    result = 0;
}

return result; }

I want it to return like this instead:

+ (int)isCorrectOnServer:(int)num {

// some code performs here...

if (this)
{
    result = kOnServer;
}
else if (this2)
{
    result = kWrongType;
}
else
{
    result = kNotOnServer;
}

return result; }

So anywhere in my code I could just call:

if ([Helper isCorrectOnServer:276872] == kOnServer)

to make my code cleaner and not show 0, 1, or 2 as the result. What is the best way to go about doing this?

Answer 1

When in doubt, see what Apple do. Look in any header file in UIKit and you will see enumeration being used for any kind of value with a finite amount of options.

Just put this in the header file:

typedef enum {
    MYCustomTypeOne,
    MYCustomTypeTwo,
    MyCustomTypeEtcetera
} MYCustomType;

Using proper enumerations over defines allow you to do define a method like this:

+(BOOL)isCustomTypeCorrectOnServer:(MYCustomType)type;

Then the argument can be auto completed for you by Xcode. And the compiler can make much better assumptions if you use the value in a switch case for example.