Question

I’m using .NET 4.0 with ASP.NET 4.0 and C# (would that be C# 4.0?).

I want to insert some data into my SQL Server database and I have a method like so to handle this:

public int InsertTrade(
    string symbol,
    string tradeSetupId,
    int tradeTypeId,
    decimal lotsPerUnit,
    string chartTimeFrame,
    int tradeGrade,
    int executionGrade,
    int MFEPips,
    int MAEPips,
    decimal pctAccountRisked
    )
{
    SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("usp_InsertTrade");
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@symbol", symbol);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@pctAccountRisked", pctAccountRisked);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@tradeSetupId", tradeSetupId);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@lotsPerUnit", lotsPerUnit);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@tfCode", chartTimeFrame);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@MAEPips", MAEPips);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@MFEPips", MFEPips);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@tradeGrade", tradeGrade);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@executionGrade", executionGrade);
    return (InsertData(cmd, "trade"));
}

There are several non-required fields: tradeGrade, executionGrade, MFEPips, MAEPips. The usp_InsertTrade stored procedure exposes these optional parameters as NULLable. What is the best way to code this in C#? I’m learning to program so it would be great if you could offer guidance on best practise.

Here are the stored procedure parameters for usp_InsertTrade:

CREATE procedure [dbo].[usp_InsertTrade]
@symbol char(6),
@tradeSetupId varchar(10),
@tradeTypeId int,
@lotsPerUnit decimal(18,1),
@chartTimeFrame varchar(5),
@tradeGrade smallint = NULL,
@executionGrade smallint = NULL,
@MFEPips int = NULL,
@MAEPips int = NULL,
@pctAccountRisked decimal(3,2)
AS

Thanks a lot.

UPDATE

I’ve changed my function so that the optional parameters are at the bottom. Like so:

public int InsertTrade(
    string symbol,
    string tradeSetupId,
    int tradeTypeId,
    decimal lotsPerUnit,
    string chartTimeFrame,
    decimal pctAccountRisked,
    int? tradeGrade,
    int? executionGrade,
    int? MFEPips,
    int? MAEPips
    )
{
    SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("usp_InsertTrade");
    // required parameters
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@symbol", symbol);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@tradeSetupId", tradeSetupId);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@tradeTypeId", tradeTypeId);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@lotsPerUnit", lotsPerUnit);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@tfCode", chartTimeFrame);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@pctAccountRisked", pctAccountRisked);

    // optional parameters
    if (MAEPips.HasValue)
        cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@MAEPips", MAEPips);
    if (MFEPips.HasValue)
        cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@MFEPips", MFEPips);
    if (tradeGrade.HasValue)
        cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@tradeGrade", tradeGrade);
    if (executionGrade.HasValue)
        cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@executionGrade", executionGrade);
    return (InsertData(cmd, "trade"));
}

When I call the function using this code:

DBUtil DB = new DBUtil();
int tradeId = DB.InsertTrade (
    ddlSymbols.SelectedValue,
    ddlTradeSetups.SelectedValue, 
    ddlTradeTypes.SelectedValue, 
    decimal.Parse(txtLotsPerUnit.Text),
    ddlTimeFrames.Text,
    decimal.Parse(txtAcctRisk.Text));

I get this error:

No overload for method 'InsertTrade' takes 6 arguments

Answer 1

With C# 4.0, you can use optional parameters in conjunction with nullable types:

public int InsertTrade(
    string symbol,
    string tradeSetupId,
    int tradeTypeId,
    decimal lotsPerUnit,
    string chartTimeFrame,
    decimal pctAccountRisked,
    int? tradeGrade = null,
    int? executionGrade = null,
    int? MFEPips = null,
    int? MAEPips = null
    )
{
    SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("usp_InsertTrade");
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@symbol", symbol);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@pctAccountRisked", pctAccountRisked);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@tradeSetupId", tradeSetupId);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@lotsPerUnit", lotsPerUnit);
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@tfCode", chartTimeFrame);
    if(MAEPips.HasValue)
        cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@MAEPips", MAEPips);
    if(MFEPips.HasValue)
        cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@MFEPips", MFEPips);
    if(tradeGrade.HasValue)
        cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@tradeGrade", tradeGrade);
    if(executionGrade.HasValue)
        cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@executionGrade", executionGrade);
    return (InsertData(cmd, "trade"));
}

With this many parameters, you may want to consider the introduce parameter object refactoring – it will make your code easier to read and modify in the future.