Refactoring long if - else if - else with common objects

Question

I'm looking for a way to refactor a log if/else if/else statement that also has a bit of nesting. The blocks also use quite a few common objects. My aim is to break the code apart to manageable units extracted to different classes and make it pluggable in case I need to cover a new condition. Here's some dummy code to illustrate: ``` List validationResults = new ...; Inspector inspector = commonInspector; bool additionalOp = commonFlag; HashSet thingsToCheck = theThings; foreach (var thing in thingsToCheck) { if (IsCandy(thing) && thing.IsWrapped && thing.IsHard) { var inspected = inspector.Inspect(thing.Value); if (inspected != thing.Value) { validationResults.Add(new ...); if (additionalOp) { thing.Taste(); } } } else if (IsChocolate(thing)) { var sweet = (Sweet)thing; List badCalories; while (var calorie in sweet.Calories) { if (calorie.IsGood) continue; badCalories.Add(calorie); } foreach (var badCal in badCalories) { var inspected = inspector…

Accepted Answer

You could break the large scope blocks into separate functions.

```
if(IsHardWrappedCandy(thing))
  ValidateHardWrappedCandy(thing);
else if (IsChocolateCandy(thing))
  ValidateChocolateCandy(thing);
```

There is also interitance, where you would create candy classes and encapsulate behavior:

```
public abstract class CandyBase
{
    public abstract void Validate();
}
public class HardWrappedCandy : CandyBase
{
  public override void Validate()
  {
     // TODO: Validation logic
  }
}
```

Then your code would be:

```
foreach(var candy in candies)
   candy.Validate();
```

Of course you will need to standardize parameters and such, but you get the idea.

Read the book Clean Code, it has a lot of great ideas on how to refactor. http://www.amazon.com/Clean-Code-Handbook-Software-Craftsmanship/dp/0132350882

Refactoring long if - else if - else with common objects

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