Question

This is partially a rant and partially genuine curiosity. Does anyone know why System.Windows.Forms.DataObject’s SetText(String) method does not accept an empty string as its argument? It states that this will throw an ArgumentNullException (even though it is not actually null).

I could understand it not accepting a null value, but it seems very unusual that it would not allow an empty string. Is there something I am missing here, or was this just some arbitrary decision by an API designer?

Answer 1

The source says:

public virtual void SetText(string textData, TextDataFormat format)
{
    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(textData))
    {
        //
    }
    else
    {
        throw new ArgumentNullException("textData");
    }
}

But that’s not the answer to your question, as you ask why this is. Browsing through the source I couldn’t find an answer, nor during a quick scan of MSDN.