Question

I use Windows Communication Services (WCF) in my project.

In my project,

I write the function like below:

GetUserNameByUserId(int userId);
GetProductInformationByProductId(int productId);

But this naming have been coming more and more complex day by day.

For instance I have 5 parameters to pass to the function, in this case the function name will be like blow:

GetStackOverFlowByStackByOverByFlowByIdByStackOverFlow(string stack, string over, string flow, int id, string stackOverFlow);

And assume that I want to get with 2 parameters like blow:

GetStackOverFlowByIdByStackOverFlow(int id, string stackOverFlow);

I want to use function overloading like below:

public void abc(int i)
{
    System.Console.WriteLine("abc" + i);
}
public void abc(string i)
{
    System.Console.WriteLine("abc" + i);
}
public void abc(string i,int j)
{
    System.Console.WriteLine("abc" + i + j);
}

That is to say, I want to write below functions:

GetStackOverFlow(int id);
GetStackOverFlow(int id, string name);
GetStackOverFlow(int id, string name, string StackOver);
.
.

Isn’t it?
Are there any methodology for that?
Or am I doing right?

I research and find this:
Function Overloading in WCF

public interface IMyService
{
   [OperationContract(Name = "GetStringWithParam")]
   string GetString(DateTime date);

   [OperationContract(Name = "GetStringWithoutParam")]
   string GetString();
}

and he said that

But i don’t prefer it as it is sometimes lead to confusion.

are there any other way?
Thanks.

Answer 1

You could use a class as a parameter.

[DataContract]
public class MySearchSettings
{

    [DataMember]
    public int? ID { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public string Name { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public string StackOver { get; set; }

}

and than create a method like this:

public GetStackOverflowResponse GetStackOverflow(MySearchSettings searchSettings)
{
    var response = new GetStackOverflowResponse();
    try
    {
        User user = null;
        if (searchSettings == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("searchSettings");
        if (searchSettings.ID.HasValue)
            user = //queryByID;
        else if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(searchSettings.Name))
            user = //queryByName;
        else if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(searchSettings.StackOver))
            user = //queryByStackOver;
        response.User = user;
    }
    catch(Exception e)
    {
        response.ErrorMessage = String.Format("{0}: {1}",
                                              e.GetType().Name,
                                              e.Message);
    }
    return response;
}

I have not included the GetStackOverflowResponse class but you get the idea of it.
One of the benefits of this is that you could easily extend the class without breaking functionality of a client when a newer version of your Service is deployed.