Can this logic be simplified?

Question

I've got 2 groups of controls.

The first one contains 3 textboxes named a, b and c. They can all be enabled or disabled at the same time.

The second group contains 2 textboxes (d and e). One and only one is enabled at a time.

Now, I have a boolean variable (named ok), which is true if:

• At least one of a,b and c is enabled AND contains text
• The enabled second group's textbox contains text
• None can be enabled WITHOUT containing text

And I want to check it all in one call.

Here's what I get:

bool ok =
(
    (
        (
            (!a.IsEnabled ||
                (a.IsEnabled && !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(a.Text))) &&
            (!b.IsEnabled ||
                (b.IsEnabled && !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(b.Text))) &&
            (!c.IsEnabled ||
                (c.IsEnabled && !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(c.Text))) &&
            (a.IsEnabled || b.IsEnabled || c.IsEnabled)
        )
    ) &&
    (
        (!d.IsEnabled ||
            (d.IsEnabled && !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(d.Text))) &&
        (!f.IsEnabled ||
            (f.IsEnabled && !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(f.Text)))
    )
);

It's quite heavy on the eye, any idea on how to simplify it?

Answer 1

Why not stick all your controls into a list an query them using LINQ

var group1 = new[] { a, b, c };
var group2 = new[] { d, e };
var all = group1.Concat(group2);
// assuming all controls are the same or implement the same interface
Func<ControlType, bool> enabledAndNotEmpty = (x) => {
    return x.IsEnabled && !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(x.Text);
};
Func<ControlType, bool> enabledAndEmpty = (x) => {
    return x.IsEnabled && String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(x.Text);
};
var ok = group1.Any(enabledAndNotEmpty) && // a, b or c is enabled & not empty
         group2.Any(enabledAndNotEmpty) && // d or e is enabled & not empty
         !all.Any(enabledAndEmpty); // none of the above are enabled & empty