Simplifying ToString() implementation

I find that writing it this way makes it more maintainable and relatively efficient.

public class Information { public string Country { get; set; } public string City { get; set; } public string Street { get; set; } public string Block { get; set; } public string Building { get; set; } public string Latitude { get; set; } public string Longitude { get; set; } private IEnumerable<Tuple<string[], string>> DataFormatPairs() { yield return Tuple.Create(new[] { Country }, "{0}"); yield return Tuple.Create(new[] { City }, "city {0}"); yield return Tuple.Create(new[] { Street }, "street {0}"); yield return Tuple.Create(new[] { Block }, "block {0}"); yield return Tuple.Create(new[] { Building }, "building {0}"); yield return Tuple.Create(new[] { Latitude, Longitude }, "coordinates {0}:{1}"); } public override string ToString() { var data = DataFormatPairs() .TakeWhile(p => p.Item1.All(s => !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(s))) .Select(p => String.Format(p.Item2, p.Item1)); return String.Join(", ", data); } } 

Using "&&" it will stop the evaluation at the first false, so something like this should work for you:

public class MyClass { public string Item1 { get; set; } public string Item2 { get; set; } public string Item3 { get; set; } public string Long { get; set; } public string Lat { get; set; } public override string ToString() { var sb = new StringBuilder(); var tempVar = (AddPropertyData(sb, "{0}", Item1) && AddPropertyData(sb, ", item2 {0}", Item2) && AddPropertyData(sb, ", item3 {0}", Item3)) && AddPropertyData(sb, ", long: {0}, lat: {1}", Long, Lat); return sb.Length > 0 ? sb.ToString() : Item1; } private static bool AddPropertyData(StringBuilder sb, string format, params string[] data) { if (data.All(x => !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(x))) { sb.AppendFormat(format, data); return true; } return false; } } 

Here's another variation:

public override string ToString() { var list = new List<string>(); if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Country)) list.Add(string.Format("{0}", Country)); if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(City)) list.Add(string.Format("city {0}", City)); if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Street)) list.Add(string.Format("street {0}", Street)); if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Block)) list.Add(string.Format("block {0}", Block)); if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Building)) list.Add(string.Format("building {0}", Building)); if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Latitude) && !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Longitude)) list.Add(string.Format("coordinates {0}:{1}", Latitude, Longitude)); return list.Count > 0 ? String.Join(", ", list.ToArray()) : string.Empty; } 

I would do something like this:

 public override string ToString() { string returnValue = string.empty; if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Country)) return returnValue; // Note: this is a change from the original code // That could have returned NULL. But I think the // intent of the function is to always return some // form of string. returnValue = string.Format("{0}", Country); if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(City)) return returnValue; returnValue += string.Format(", city {0}", City); if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Street)) return returnValue; returnValue += string.Format(", street {0}", Street); if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Block)) return returnValue; returnValue += string.Format(", block {0}", Block); if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Building)) returnValue += string.Format(", building {0}", Building); if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Latitude) && !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Longitude)) returnValue += string.Format(", coordinates {0}:{1}", Latitude, Longitude); return returnValue; } 

If you want to compress this slightly. Though I am in two minds weather this is worth it or not:

public class Pair { public Pair(string v, string f) { this.Value =v; this.Format = f;} public string Value { get; private set; } public string Format { get; private set; } }; public override string ToString() { string returnValue = string.empty; string[] address = {new Pair(Country, "{0}"), new Pair(City, ", city {0}"), new Pair(Street, ", street {0}"), new Pair(Block, ", block {0}") }; foreach(Pair loop in address) { if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(loop.Value)) return returnValue; returnValue += string.Format(loop.Format, loop.Value); } if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Building)) returnValue += string.Format(", building {0}", Building); if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Latitude) && !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Longitude)) returnValue += string.Format(", coordinates {0}:{1}", Latitude, Longitude); return returnValue; }