Question

In my page load, am I calling ReturnStuff() once or three times?
If I am calling it three times, is there a more efficient way to do this?

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    string thing1 = ReturnStuff(username,password)[0];
    string thing2 = ReturnStuff(username, password)[1];
    string thing3 = ReturnStuff(username, password)[2];
}

public static List<string> ReturnStuff(string foo, string bar)
{

    // Create a list to contain the attributes
    List<string> Stuff = new List<string>();

    // Some process that determines strings values based on supplied parameters

    Stuff.Add(fn);
    Stuff.Add(ln);
    Stuff.Add(em);

    return Stuff;
}

Answer 1

You’re calling it three times. Here is a more efficient way:

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    var stuff = ReturnStuff(username,password);
    string thing1 = stuff[0];
    string thing2 = stuff[1];
    string thing3 = stuff[2];
}

But more than that, if you have a first name, last name, and e-mail, I would write a function that returns an object composing a first name, last name, and e-mail:

public class User
{
     public string LastName {get;set;}
     public string FirstName {get;set;}
     public string EMail {get;set;}
}

public static User GetUser(string username, string password)
{ 
    // Some process that determines strings values based on supplied parameters

    return new User() {FirstName=fn, LastName=ln, EMail=em};
}

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    var user = GetUser(username,password);
}