Is there such a thing as a chained NULL check?

Question

I have the following ugly code:

if (msg == null || 
    msg.Content == null || 
    msg.Content.AccountMarketMessage == null || 
    msg.Content.AccountMarke         


        

Answer 1

Since 3.5 (maybe earlier), You could write very simple extension method

  public static TResult DefaultOrValue (this T source, 
                                                Func property) where T : class
    {
        return source == null ? default(TResult) : property(source);
    }

You may name this method even shortier and then use like this

 var instance = new First {SecondInstance = new Second 
                          {ThirdInstance = new Third {Value = 5}}};
        var val =
            instance .DefaultOrValue(x => x.SecondInstance)
                .DefaultOrValue(x => x.ThirdInstance)
                .DefaultOrValue(x => x.Value);
        Console.WriteLine(val);
        Console.ReadLine();

so source classes are:

public class Third
{
    public int Value;
}

public class First
{
    public Second SecondInstance;
}

public class Second
{
    public Third ThirdInstance;
}