More fluent C# / .NET

Question

A co-worker of mine came up with this and I wonder what others think? Personally, I find it interesting but wonder if it is too big a departure? Code examples below. Extensi

Answer 1

In certain circumstances thoughtfully constructed fluent interfaces can be very useful. First, because the developer is presented with a limited number of options they are (typically) easy to use correctly and difficult to use incorrectly. Second, because of the sentence like structure they can be a nice clean way to declare your intentions, especially when building complex objects.

I have found fluent interfaces to be very useful when developing test code in which it is often necessary to build lots of domain objects with slight variations. I have also used them successfully as a way to introduce the decorator pattern and to eliminate excessive method overloading.

If anyone is interested in learning more about fluent interfaces, I suggest checking out this work in progress by Martin Fowler.

Answer 2

I am more comfortable with the first version. It takes less time to read and understand. I agree that the extension methods are also fine if you are familiar with it and also familiar with the With method, but what’s the benefit of it in this case?

Answer 3

I'd say stick with the first version. What you've posted is too clever to be immediately useful to someone reading the code.

You could even go a step further and do away with that "var":

DropDownList ddl = (DropDownList) Page.FindControl("ddlName");