Design Question

[Nate]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have 2 design questions for ya'll. And this pertains to developing an
ASP.NET application.

Question #1
Which is the correct way (and why) for designing class methods?

1. Use reference (input/output) parameters to return multiple pieces of
information to the caller
(please ignore naming conventions, for example only)
public void MyFunc(int Param1, string Param2, ref int OutParam1, ref string
OutParam2)
{
// do stuff
OutParam1 = something;
OutParam2 = somethingelse;
}

2. Pass back a object
public MyClass MyFunc(int Param1, string Param2)
{
return new MyClass(somethi ng, somethingelse);
}


Question #2
Which is the correct way (and why) for handling error conditions?

1. Pass back an integer value indicating success or failure (like in the
Win32api)

2. Raise an exception
throw new ApplicationExce ption("my error condition");

[Peter Rilling]

Re: Design Question

Your first question there really is no right or wrong. Different people
will do it differently. I tend to prefer passing an object back with the
information. I usually consider the parameters as only control mechanisms
which change the methods behavior.

With your second question, the accepted way of raising errors is to throw an
exception. That does not mean that you will never return something else.
For instance, if the caller is expecting an object, then the method might
return a null if something bad happened.

"Nate" <Nate@discussio ns.microsoft.co m> wrote in message
news:51F8C2BF-AA42-40E9-841F-58E0A5987A48@mi crosoft.com...[color=blue]
> Ladies and Gentlemen,
>
> I have 2 design questions for ya'll. And this pertains to developing an
> ASP.NET application.
>
> Question #1
> Which is the correct way (and why) for designing class methods?
>
> 1. Use reference (input/output) parameters to return multiple pieces of
> information to the caller
> (please ignore naming conventions, for example only)
> public void MyFunc(int Param1, string Param2, ref int OutParam1, ref
> string
> OutParam2)
> {
> // do stuff
> OutParam1 = something;
> OutParam2 = somethingelse;
> }
>
> 2. Pass back a object
> public MyClass MyFunc(int Param1, string Param2)
> {
> return new MyClass(somethi ng, somethingelse);
> }
>
>
> Question #2
> Which is the correct way (and why) for handling error conditions?
>
> 1. Pass back an integer value indicating success or failure (like in the
> Win32api)
>
> 2. Raise an exception
> throw new ApplicationExce ption("my error condition");[/color]