Question

If I am calling a function:

    public User GetUserById(int UserId)     {     User someUser = new User();      //Look up this UserId in the database      ...     someUser.Name = dbResult['Name'];      return someUser;     } 

Let’s say I pass in a UserId that has no ‘User information’ associated with it.

Suddenly the ‘someUser’ I’m passing back is instantiated, but empty. What’s the best way to check that it’s ’empty’ so I don’t try and display data from it?

The caveman in me wants to check if someUser.Name has a length of greater than zero. I know that’s awful, so if you know what I’m missing – I’d appreciate your help!

Answer 1

The real question is, why would GetUserById() return an uninitialized object if the ID is invalid? Wouldn’t it be better to throw an exception or – at worst – return null?