This question already has answers here:
C# elegant way to check if a property's property is null
(20 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
Suppose, I have this interface,
interface IContact
{
IAddress address { get; set; }
}
interface IAddress
{
string city { get; set; }
}
class Person : IPerson
{
public IContact contact { get; set; }
}
class test
{
private test()
{
var person = new Person();
if (person.contact.address.city != null)
{
//this will never work if contact is itself null?
}
}
}
Person.Contact.Address.City != null (This works to check if City is null or not.)
However, this check fails if Address or Contact or Person itself is null.
Currently, one solution I could think of was this:
if (Person != null && Person.Contact!=null && Person.Contact.Address!= null && Person.Contact.Address.City != null)
{
// Do some stuff here..
}
Is there a cleaner way of doing this?
I really don't like the null check being done as (something == null). Instead, is there another nice way to do something like the something.IsNull() method?
In a generic way, you may use an expression tree and check with an extension method:
if (!person.IsNull(p => p.contact.address.city))
{
//Nothing is null
}
Full code:
public class IsNullVisitor : ExpressionVisitor
{
public bool IsNull { get; private set; }
public object CurrentObject { get; set; }
protected override Expression VisitMember(MemberExpression node)
{
base.VisitMember(node);
if (CheckNull())
{
return node;
}
var member = (PropertyInfo)node.Member;
CurrentObject = member.GetValue(CurrentObject,null);
CheckNull();
return node;
}
private bool CheckNull()
{
if (CurrentObject == null)
{
IsNull = true;
}
return IsNull;
}
}
public static class Helper
{
public static bool IsNull<T>(this T root,Expression<Func<T, object>> getter)
{
var visitor = new IsNullVisitor();
visitor.CurrentObject = root;
visitor.Visit(getter);
return visitor.IsNull;
}
}
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Person nullPerson = null;
var isNull_0 = nullPerson.IsNull(p => p.contact.address.city);
var isNull_1 = new Person().IsNull(p => p.contact.address.city);
var isNull_2 = new Person { contact = new Contact() }.IsNull(p => p.contact.address.city);
var isNull_3 = new Person { contact = new Contact { address = new Address() } }.IsNull(p => p.contact.address.city);
var notnull = new Person { contact = new Contact { address = new Address { city = "LONDON" } } }.IsNull(p => p.contact.address.city);
}
}
Your code may have bigger problems than needing to check for null references. As it stands, you are probably violating the Law of Demeter.
The Law of Demeter is one of those heuristics, like Don't Repeat Yourself, that helps you write easily maintainable code. It tells programmers not to access anything too far away from the immediate scope. For example, suppose I have this code:
public interface BusinessData {
public decimal Money { get; set; }
}
public class BusinessCalculator : ICalculator {
public BusinessData CalculateMoney() {
// snip
}
}
public BusinessController : IController {
public void DoAnAction() {
var businessDA = new BusinessCalculator().CalculateMoney();
Console.WriteLine(businessDA.Money * 100d);
}
}
The DoAnAction method violates the Law of Demeter. In one function, it accesses a BusinessCalcualtor, a BusinessData, and a decimal. This means that if any of the following changes are made, the line will have to be refactored:
The return type of BusinessCalculator.CalculateMoney() changes.
The type of BusinessData.Money changes
Considering the situation at had, these changes are rather likely to happen. If code like this is written throughout the codebase, making these changes could become very expensive. Besides that, it means that your BusinessController is coupled to both the BusinessCalculator and the BusinessData types.
One way to avoid this situation is rewritting the code like this:
public class BusinessCalculator : ICalculator {
private BusinessData CalculateMoney() {
// snip
}
public decimal CalculateCents() {
return CalculateMoney().Money * 100d;
}
}
public BusinessController : IController {
public void DoAnAction() {
Console.WriteLine(new BusinessCalculator().CalculateCents());
}
}
Now, if you make either of the above changes, you only have to refactor one more piece of code, the BusinessCalculator.CalculateCents() method. You've also eliminated BusinessController's dependency on BusinessData.
Your code suffers from a similar issue:
interface IContact
{
IAddress address { get; set; }
}
interface IAddress
{
string city { get; set; }
}
class Person : IPerson
{
public IContact contact { get; set; }
}
class Test {
public void Main() {
var contact = new Person().contact;
var address = contact.address;
var city = address.city;
Console.WriteLine(city);
}
}
If any of the following changes are made, you will need to refactor the main method I wrote or the null check you wrote:
The type of IPerson.contact changes
The type of IContact.address changes
The type of IAddress.city changes
I think you should consider a deeper refactoring of your code than simply rewriting a null check.
That said, I think that there are times where following the Law of Demeter is inappropriate. (It is, after all, a heuristic, not a hard-and-fast rule, even though it's called a "law.")
In particular, I think that if:
You have some classes that represent records stored in the persistence layer of your program, AND
You are extremely confident that you will not need to refactor those classes in the future,
ignoring the Law of Demeter is acceptable when dealing specifically with those classes. This is because they represent the data your application works with, so reaching from one data object into another is a way of exploring the information in your program. In my example above, the coupling caused by violating the Law of Demeter was much more severe: I was reaching all the way from a controller near the top of my stack through a business logic calculator in the middle of the stack into a data class likely in the persistence layer.
I bring this potential exception to the Law of Demeter up because with names like Person, Contact, and Address, your classes look like they might be data-layer POCOs. If that's the case, and you are extremely confident that you will never need to refactor them in the future, you might be able to get away with ignoring the Law of Demeter in your specific situation.
in your case you could create a property for person
public bool HasCity
{
get
{
return (this.Contact!=null && this.Contact.Address!= null && this.Contact.Address.City != null);
}
}
but you still have to check if person is null
if (person != null && person.HasCity)
{
}
to your other question, for strings you can also check if null or empty this way:
string s = string.Empty;
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
{
// string is not null and not empty
}
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(s))
{
// string is not null, not empty and not contains only white spaces
}
A totally different option (which I think is underused) is the null object pattern. It's hard to tell whether it makes sense in your particular situation, but it might be worth a try. In short, you will have a NullContact implementation, a NullAddress implementation and so on that you use instead of null. That way, you can get rid of most of the null checks, of course at the expense at some thought you have to put into the design of these implementations.
As Adam pointed out in his comment, this allows you to write
if (person.Contact.Address.City is NullCity)
in cases where it is really necessary. Of course, this only makes sense if city really is a non-trivial object...
Alternatively, the null object can be implemented as a singleton (e.g., look here for some practical instructions concerning the usage of the null object pattern and here for instructions concerning singletons in C#) which allows you to use classical comparison.
if (person.Contact.Address.City == NullCity.Instance)
Personally, I prefer this approach because I think it is easier to read for people not familiar with the pattern.
Update 28/04/2014: Null propagation is planned for C# vNext
There are bigger problems than propagating null checks. Aim for readable code that can be understood by another developer, and although it's wordy - your example is fine.
If it is a check that is done frequently, consider encapsulating it inside the Person class as a property or method call.
That said, gratuitous Func and generics!
I would never do this, but here is another alternative:
class NullHelper
{
public static bool ChainNotNull<TFirst, TSecond, TThird, TFourth>(TFirst item1, Func<TFirst, TSecond> getItem2, Func<TSecond, TThird> getItem3, Func<TThird, TFourth> getItem4)
{
if (item1 == null)
return false;
var item2 = getItem2(item1);
if (item2 == null)
return false;
var item3 = getItem3(item2);
if (item3 == null)
return false;
var item4 = getItem4(item3);
if (item4 == null)
return false;
return true;
}
}
Called:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Person person = new Person { Address = new Address { PostCode = new Postcode { Value = "" } } };
if (NullHelper.ChainNotNull(person, p => p.Address, a => a.PostCode, p => p.Value))
{
Console.WriteLine("Not null");
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("null");
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
The second question,
I really don't like the null check being done as (something == null). Instead, is there another nice way to do something like the something.IsNull() method?
could be solved using an extension method:
public static class Extensions
{
public static bool IsNull<T>(this T source) where T : class
{
return source == null;
}
}
If for some reason you don't mind going with one of the more 'over the top' solutions, you might want to check out the solution described in my blog post. It uses the expression tree to find out whether the value is null before evaluating the expression. But to keep performance acceptable, it creates and caches IL code.
The solution allows you do write this:
string city = person.NullSafeGet(n => n.Contact.Address.City);
You can write:
public static class Extensions
{
public static bool IsNull(this object obj)
{
return obj == null;
}
}
and then:
string s = null;
if(s.IsNull())
{
}
Sometimes this makes sense. But personally I would avoid such things... because this is is not clear why you can call a method of the object that is actually null.
Do it in a separate method like:
private test()
{
var person = new Person();
if (!IsNull(person))
{
// Proceed
........
Where your IsNull method is
public bool IsNull(Person person)
{
if(Person != null &&
Person.Contact != null &&
Person.Contact.Address != null &&
Person.Contact.Address.City != null)
return false;
return true;
}
Do you need C#, or do you only want .NET? If you can mix another .NET language, have a look at Oxygene. It's an amazing, very modern OO language that targets .NET (and also Java and Cocoa as well. Yep. All natively, it really is quite an amazing toolchain.)
Oxygene has a colon operator which does exactly what you ask. To quote from their miscellaneous language features page:
The Colon (":") Operator
In Oxygene, like in many of the languages it
was influenced by, the "." operator is used to call members on a class
or object, such as
var x := y.SomeProperty;
This "dereferences" the object contained in
"y", calls (in this case) the property getter and returns its value.
If "y" happens to be unassigned (i.e. "nil"), an exception is thrown.
The ":" operator works in much the same way, but instead of throwing
an exception on an unassigned object, the result will simply be nil.
For developers coming from Objective-C, this will be familiar, as that
is how Objective-C method calls using the [] syntax work, too.
... (snip)
Where ":" really shines is when accessing properties in a chain, where
any element might be nil. For example, the following code:
var y := MyForm:OkButton:Caption:Length;
will run without error, and
return nil if any of the objects in the chain are nil — the form, the
button or its caption.
try
{
// do some stuff here
}
catch (NullReferenceException e)
{
}
Don't actually do this. Do the null checks, and figure out what formatting you can best live with.
I have an extension that could be useful for this; ValueOrDefault(). It accepts a lambda statement and evaluates it, returning either the evaluated value or a default value if any expected exceptions (NRE or IOE) are thrown.
/// <summary>
/// Provides a null-safe member accessor that will return either the result of the lambda or the specified default value.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="TIn">The type of the in.</typeparam>
/// <typeparam name="TOut">The type of the out.</typeparam>
/// <param name="input">The input.</param>
/// <param name="projection">A lambda specifying the value to produce.</param>
/// <param name="defaultValue">The default value to use if the projection or any parent is null.</param>
/// <returns>the result of the lambda, or the specified default value if any reference in the lambda is null.</returns>
public static TOut ValueOrDefault<TIn, TOut>(this TIn input, Func<TIn, TOut> projection, TOut defaultValue)
{
try
{
var result = projection(input);
if (result == null) result = defaultValue;
return result;
}
catch (NullReferenceException) //most reference types throw this on a null instance
{
return defaultValue;
}
catch (InvalidOperationException) //Nullable<T> throws this when accessing Value
{
return defaultValue;
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Provides a null-safe member accessor that will return either the result of the lambda or the default value for the type.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="TIn">The type of the in.</typeparam>
/// <typeparam name="TOut">The type of the out.</typeparam>
/// <param name="input">The input.</param>
/// <param name="projection">A lambda specifying the value to produce.</param>
/// <returns>the result of the lambda, or default(TOut) if any reference in the lambda is null.</returns>
public static TOut ValueOrDefault<TIn, TOut>(this TIn input, Func<TIn, TOut> projection)
{
return input.ValueOrDefault(projection, default(TOut));
}
The overload not taking a specific default value will return null for any reference type. This should work in your scenario:
class test
{
private test()
{
var person = new Person();
if (person.ValueOrDefault(p=>p.contact.address.city) != null)
{
//the above will return null without exception if any member in the chain is null
}
}
}
Such a reference chain may occurre for example if you use an ORM tool, and want to keep your classes as pure as possible. In this scenario I think it cannot be avoided nicely.
I have the following extension method "family", which checks if the object on which it's called is null, and if not, returns one of it's requested properties, or executes some methods with it. This works of course only for reference types, that's why I have the corresponding generic constraint.
public static TRet NullOr<T, TRet>(this T obj, Func<T, TRet> getter) where T : class
{
return obj != null ? getter(obj) : default(TRet);
}
public static void NullOrDo<T>(this T obj, Action<T> action) where T : class
{
if (obj != null)
action(obj);
}
These methods add almost no overhead compared to the manual solution (no reflection, no expression trees), and you can achieve a nicer syntax with them (IMO).
var city = person.NullOr(e => e.Contact).NullOr(e => e.Address).NullOr(e => e.City);
if (city != null)
// do something...
Or with methods:
person.NullOrDo(p => p.GoToWork());
However, one could definetely argue about the length of code didn't change too much.
In my opinion, the equality operator is not a safer and better way for reference equality.
It's always better to use ReferenceEquals(obj, null). This will always work. On the other hand, the equality operator (==) could be overloaded and might be checking if the values are equal instead of the references, so I will say ReferenceEquals() is a safer and better way.
class MyClass {
static void Main() {
object o = null;
object p = null;
object q = new Object();
Console.WriteLine(Object.ReferenceEquals(o, p));
p = q;
Console.WriteLine(Object.ReferenceEquals(p, q));
Console.WriteLine(Object.ReferenceEquals(o, p));
}
}
Reference: MSDN article Object.ReferenceEquals Method.
But also here are my thoughts for null values
Generally, returning null values is the best idea if anyone is trying to indicate that there is no data.
If the object is not null, but empty, it implies that data has been returned, whereas returning null clearly indicates that nothing has been returned.
Also IMO, if you will return null, it will result in a null exception if you attempt to access members in the object, which can be useful for highlighting buggy code.
In C#, there are two different kinds of equality:
reference equality and
value equality.
When a type is immutable, overloading operator == to compare value equality instead of reference equality can be useful.
Overriding operator == in non-immutable types is not recommended.
Refer to the MSDN article Guidelines for Overloading Equals() and Operator == (C# Programming Guide) for more details.
As much as I love C#, this is one thing that's kind of likable about C++ when working directly with object instances; some declarations simply cannot be null, so there's no need to check for null.
The best way you can get a slice of this pie in C# (which might be a bit too much redesigning on your part - in which case, take your pick of the other answers) is with struct's. While you could find yourself in a situation where a struct has uninstantiated "default" values (ie, 0, 0.0, null string) there's never a need to check "if (myStruct == null)".
I wouldn't switch over to them without understanding their use, of course. They tend to be used for value types, and not really for large blocks of data - anytime you assign a struct from one variable to another, you tend to be actually copying the data across, essentially creating a copy of each of the original's values (you can avoid this with the ref keyword - again, read up on it rather than just using it). Still, it may fit for things like StreetAddress - I certainly wouldn't lazily use it on anything I didn't want to null-check.
Depending on what the purpose of using the "city" variable is, a cleaner way could be to separate the null checks into different classes. That way you also wouldn't be violating the Law of Demeter. So instead of:
if (person != null && person.contact != null && person.contact.address != null && person.contact.address.city != null)
{
// do some stuff here..
}
You'd have:
class test
{
private test()
{
var person = new Person();
if (person != null)
{
person.doSomething();
}
}
}
...
/* Person class */
doSomething()
{
if (contact != null)
{
contact.doSomething();
}
}
...
/* Contact class */
doSomething()
{
if (address != null)
{
address.doSomething();
}
}
...
/* Address class */
doSomething()
{
if (city != null)
{
// do something with city
}
}
Again, it depends on the purpose of the program.
In what circumstances can those things be null? If nulls would indicate a bug in the code then you could use code contracts. They will pick it up if you get nulls during testing, then will go away in the production version. Something like this:
using System.Diagnostics.Contracts;
[ContractClass(typeof(IContactContract))]
interface IContact
{
IAddress address { get; set; }
}
[ContractClassFor(typeof(IContact))]
internal abstract class IContactContract: IContact
{
IAddress address
{
get
{
Contract.Ensures(Contract.Result<IAddress>() != null);
return default(IAddress); // dummy return
}
}
}
[ContractClass(typeof(IAddressContract))]
interface IAddress
{
string city { get; set; }
}
[ContractClassFor(typeof(IAddress))]
internal abstract class IAddressContract: IAddress
{
string city
{
get
{
Contract.Ensures(Contract.Result<string>() != null);
return default(string); // dummy return
}
}
}
class Person
{
[ContractInvariantMethod]
protected void ObjectInvariant()
{
Contract.Invariant(contact != null);
}
public IContact contact { get; set; }
}
class test
{
private test()
{
var person = new Person();
Contract.Assert(person != null);
if (person.contact.address.city != null)
{
// If you get here, person cannot be null, person.contact cannot be null
// person.contact.address cannot be null and person.contact.address.city cannot be null.
}
}
}
Of course, if the possible nulls are coming from somewhere else then you'll need to have already conditioned the data. And if any of the nulls are valid then you shouldn't make non-null a part of the contract, you need to test for them and handle them appropriately.
One way to remove null checks in methods is to encapsulate their functionality elsewhere. One way to do this is through getters and setters. For instance, instead of doing this:
class Person : IPerson
{
public IContact contact { get; set; }
}
Do this:
class Person : IPerson
{
public IContact contact
{
get
{
// This initializes the property if it is null.
// That way, anytime you access the property "contact" in your code,
// it will check to see if it is null and initialize if needed.
if(_contact == null)
{
_contact = new Contact();
}
return _contact;
}
set
{
_contact = value;
}
}
private IContact _contact;
}
Then, whenever you call "person.contact", the code in the "get" method will run, thus initializing the value if it is null.
You could apply this exact same methodology to all of the properties that could be null across all of your types. The benefits to this approach are that it 1) prevents you from having to do null checks in-line and it 2) makes your code more readable and less prone to copy-paste errors.
It should be noted, however, that if you find yourself in a situation where you need to perform some action if one of the properties is null (i.e. does a Person with a null Contact actually mean something in your domain?), then this approach will be a hindrance rather than a help. However, if the properties in question should never be null, then this approach will give you a very clean way of representing that fact.
--jtlovetteiii
You could use reflection, to avoid forcing implementation of interfaces and extra code in every class. Simply a Helper class with static method(s). This might not be the most efficient way, be gentle with me, I'm a virgin (read, noob)..
public class Helper
{
public static bool IsNull(object o, params string[] prop)
{
if (o == null)
return true;
var v = o;
foreach (string s in prop)
{
PropertyInfo pi = v.GetType().GetProperty(s); //Set flags if not only public props
v = (pi != null)? pi.GetValue(v, null) : null;
if (v == null)
return true;
}
return false;
}
}
//In use
isNull = Helper.IsNull(p, "ContactPerson", "TheCity");
Offcourse if you have a typo in the propnames, the result will be wrong (most likely)..
You all do this:
public void Proc(object parameter)
{
if (parameter == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("parameter");
// Main code.
}
Jon Skeet once mentioned that he sometimes uses the extension to do this check so you can do just:
parameter.ThrowIfNull("parameter");
So I come of with two implementations of this extension and I don't know which one is the best.
First:
internal static void ThrowIfNull<T>(this T o, string paramName) where T : class
{
if (o == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(paramName);
}
Second:
internal static void ThrowIfNull(this object o, string paramName)
{
if (o == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(paramName);
}
What do you think?
I tend to stick to the ubiquitous Guard class for this:
static class Guard
{
public static void AgainstNulls(object parameter, string name = null)
{
if (parameter == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(name ?? "guarded argument was null");
Contract.EndContractBlock(); // If you use Code Contracts.
}
}
Guard.AgainstNulls(parameter, "parameter");
And shy away from extending object, plus to the naked eye a method call on a null object seems nonsensical (although I know it is perfectly valid to have null method calls against extension methods).
As for which is best, I'd use neither. They both have infinite recursion. I'd also not bother guarding the message parameter, make it optionally null. Your first solution will also not support Nullable<T> types as the class constraint blocks it.
Our Guard class also has the Contract.EndContractBlock() call after it for when we decide to enable Code Contracts, as it fits the "if-then-throw" structure that is required.
This is also a perfect candidate for a PostSharp aspect.
I'd use internal static void ThrowIfNull<T>(this T o, string paramName) where T : class. I won't use internal static void ThrowIfNull(this object o, string paramName) because it might do boxing.
As of .NET 6, now we have the static method ThrowIfNull in the System.ArgumentNullException class with the following signature:
ThrowIfNull(object? argument, string? paramName = null);
Therefore, instead of writing:
if (value == null)
{
throw new System.ArgumentNullException(nameof(value));
}
Now we can simply write:
System.ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(value);
The docs: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.argumentnullexception.throwifnull?view=net-6.0
The implementation of this new method takes advantage of the System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallerArgumentExpressionAttribute attribute to simplify this further, by not requiring the developer to explicitly provide the name of the parameter that's being guarded.
The discussion that ended up introducing this new API can be found here:
https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/issues/48573
The PR that introduced it in the .NET 6 code base can be found here:
https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/pull/55594
I would do this way to avoid hardcoding parameter names. Tomorrow it can change, and you have more work then:
public static void ThrowIfNull<T>(this T item) where T : class
{
var param = typeof(T).GetProperties()[0];
if (param.GetValue(item, null) == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(param.Name);
}
And call it:
public void Proc(object parameter)
{
new { parameter }.ThrowIfNull(); //you have to call it this way.
// Main code.
}
The performance hit is trivial (on my mediocre computer it ran for 100000 times just under 25 ms), much faster than Expression based approach seen typically
ThrowIfNull(() => resource);
One such here. But surely don't use this if you cant afford that much hit..
You can also extend this for properties of objects.
new { myClass.MyProperty1 }.ThrowIfNull();
You can cache property values to improve performance further as property names don't change during runtime.
See this question additionally: Resolving a parameter name at runtime
What about using Expression Trees (from Visual Studio Magazine):
using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
namespace Validation
{
public static class Validator
{
public static void ThrowIfNull(Expression<Func<object>> expression)
{
var body = expression.Body as MemberExpression;
if( body == null)
{
throw new ArgumentException(
"expected property or field expression.");
}
var compiled = expression.Compile();
var value = compiled();
if( value == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException(body.Member.Name);
}
}
public static void ThrowIfNullOrEmpty(Expression<Func<String>> expression)
{
var body = expression.Body as MemberExpression;
if (body == null)
{
throw new ArgumentException(
"expected property or field expression.");
}
var compiled = expression.Compile();
var value = compiled();
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(value))
{
throw new ArgumentException(
"String is null or empty", body.Member.Name);
}
}
}
}
Used like this:
public void Proc(object parameter1, object parameter2, string string1)
{
Validator.ThrowIfNull(() => parameter1);
Validator.ThrowIfNull(() => parameter2);
Validator.ThrowIfNullOrEmpty(() => string1);
// Main code.
}
Based on C# 10, I use the ThrowIfNull extension method:
public static class CheckNullArgument
{
public static T ThrowIfNull<T>(this T argument)
{
ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(argument);
return argument;
}
}
Usage:
public class UsersController
{
private readonly IUserService _userService;
public UsersController(IUserService userService)
{
_userService = userService.ThrowIfNull();
}
}
Second one seems more elegant way of handling the same. In this case you can put restriction on every managed object.
internal static void ThrowIfNull(this object o, string paramName)
{
if (o == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(paramName);
}
I just got into a debate with one of my coworkers about checking for null values.
He SWEARS that "in certain situations" the code below would give him a null value exception:
string test = null;
if(test == null) //error here
{
}
but that if changed the code to this there would be no error:
string test = null;
if(null == test) //NO error here
{
}
I told him there was no way this could happen but he swears it fixed his code. Is there any possible situation where the above change could fix an error?
Not with string, no. You could do so with a badly written == overload though:
using System;
public class NaughtyType
{
public override int GetHashCode()
{
return 0;
}
public override bool Equals(object other)
{
return true;
}
public static bool operator ==(NaughtyType first, NaughtyType second)
{
return first.Equals(second);
}
public static bool operator !=(NaughtyType first, NaughtyType second)
{
return !first.Equals(second);
}
}
public class Test
{
static void Main()
{
NaughtyType nt = null;
if (nt == null)
{
Console.WriteLine("Hmm...");
}
}
}
Of course, if you changed the equality operator to this:
public static bool operator ==(NaughtyType first, NaughtyType second)
{
return second.Equals(first);
}
then your colleagues code would fail, but yours wouldn't! Basically if you overload operators properly - or use types which don't overload operators - this isn't a problem. If your colleague keeps claiming he's run into it, ask him to reproduce it. He certainly shouldn't be asking you to reduce readability (I believe most people find the first form more readable) on the basis of something he can't demonstrate.
I think this is a left-over from a 'best practice' in C/C++, because using '=' instead of '==' is an easy to make mistake:
if(test = null) // C compiler Warns, but evaluates always to false
if(null = test) // C compiler error, null cannot be assigned to
In C#, they both produce an error.
You're right. If he can reproduce this without an overloaded == operator, invite him to post it here.
The test of if (test == null) if test is a string is valid and will never give an exception. Both tests are also essentially exactly the same.
I have next code:
private T CreateInstance<T>(object obj) // where T : ISomeInterface, class
{
...
if (!typeof(T).IsAssignableFrom(obj.GetType())) { throw ..; }
return (T)obj;
}
Can it be replaced with this:
T result = obj as T;
if (result == null) { throw ..; }
return result;
If not - why?
What about if (!(bar is T)) { throw ..; }
Alternatively if you don't need your own exception message the simplest answer is just to do:
return (T)obj;
The reason if that if it's not castable an InvalidCastException will be thrown and the return ignored. Unless you're adding some more logic or a custom error message there's no need to do a check and throw your own exception.
Another variant:
private T CreateInstance<T>(object obj) where T : ISomeInterface // as OP mentioned above
{
...
T result = obj as T;
if (result == null)
{ throw ..; }
else
return result;
}
Yes you can use your as operator code there instead of the original code, so long as T is a reference type or nullable.
as is the recommended way of casting in C# (see item 3 of Effective C#, by Bill Wagner)
From system.type.isassignablefrom:
[returns] true if c and the current Type represent the same type, or if the current Type is in the inheritance hierarchy of c, or if the current Type is an interface that c implements, or if c is a generic type parameter and the current Type represents one of the constraints of c. false if none of these conditions are true, or if c is null.
From 7.10.11 of the C# spec:
In an operation of the form E as T, E must be an expression and T must be a reference type, a type parameter known to be a reference type, or a nullable type
So you can see that they do comparable checks.
Maybe this (less brackets, better readability)
if (obj is T)
{
return (T)obj;
}
else
throw new ...
EDITED
by reduced number of brackets I originally meant inverted check: ie
if (obj is T)
instead of
if (!(obj is T))
so final version can be
if (obj is T)
{
return (T)obj;
}
throw new ...
or
if (obj is T)
{
return (T)obj;
}
else
{
throw new ...
}
See this post
The second one is safe...because at the first one if obj is null you will get exception (obj.GetType() --> NullReferenceException).
When you place "is" and then "as" is cause performance issues..
The class constraint where T : class allows you to use the as T statement.
private T CreateInstance<T>(object obj) where T : class
{
if (!(obj is T)) { throw new ArgumentException("..."); }
return obj as T;
}
or
private T CreateInstance<T>(object obj)
{
if (!(obj is T)) { throw new ArgumentException("..."); }
return (T)obj;
}
You're probably looking for the is keyword, with the syntax expression is type
Documentation describes it as performing the checks you want:
An is expression evaluates to true if
both of the following conditions are
met:
• expression is not null.
• expression
can be cast to type. That is, a cast
expression of the form
(type)(expression) will complete
without throwing an exception.
Edit
However, if instead of just working out whether you can cast something before you try, the as keyword is probably your best solution as you describe in your post.
The following code would perform the same function though...
try
{
T result = (T)obj;
return result;
}
catch (InvalidCastException ex)
{
// throw your own exception or deal with it in some other way.
}
Which method you prefer is up to you...
IsAssignableFrom used by this scene:
foreach (PropertyInfo property in GetType().GetProperties())
{
if (typeof(SubPresenter).IsAssignableFrom(property.PropertyType))
{//Do Sth.}
}
Just for the developers who like to play the numbers game (who doesn't!).
Below you'll find a performance comparison test for IsAssignableFrom vs. As. Of course this will only count if you have an instance.
The result of the test (one million attempts):
IsAssignableFrom: 146 ms elapsed
AsOperator: 7 ms elapsed
[TestMethod]
public void IsAssignableFromVsAsPerformanceTest()
{
Stopwatch stopwatch = new Stopwatch();
stopwatch.Start();
int attempts = 1000000;
string value = "This is a test";
for (int attempt = 0; attempt < attempts; attempt++) {
bool isConvertible = typeof(IConvertible).IsAssignableFrom(value.GetType());
}
stopwatch.Stop();
Console.WriteLine("IsAssignableFrom: {0} ms elapsed", stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
stopwatch.Restart();
for (int attempt = 0; attempt < attempts; attempt++) {
bool isConvertible = value as string != null;
}
stopwatch.Stop();
Console.WriteLine("AsOperator: {0} ms elapsed", stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
}
It may have been intended to handle cases where a conversion constructor would allow the operation, but apparently IsAssignableFrom doesn't handle that either. Don't see anything that can handle that. So I don't see how to check for cases like this:
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
B bValue = new B(123);
Console.WriteLine(typeof(A).IsAssignableFrom(bValue.GetType()));
//Console.WriteLine(bValue is A);
//Console.WriteLine(bValue as A == null);
A aValue = bValue;
Console.WriteLine(aValue.ToString());
}
}
class A
{
string value;
public A(string value)
{
this.value = value;
}
public override string ToString()
{
return value;
}
}
class B
{
int value;
public B(int value)
{
this.value = value;
}
public static implicit operator A(B value)
{
return new A(value.value.ToString());
}
}
In the end, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't want to use your version of the code, unless you want the code to throw an exception when obj is null. That's the only difference I can see. obj.GetType() will throw an null reference exception when obj is null instead of throwing the specified exception.
Edit: I see now your version of the code will not compile if T can be a value type, but the other suggested solution like "if (obj is T) return (T)obj;" will compile. So I see why your suggested alternative will not work, but I don't see why you couldn't use "is".
Or even better because its easer to read true conditionals.
if(obj is T){
//Create instance.
}
else{
throw new InvalidArgumentException("Try Again");
}