I am struggling to define the structure of my classes
I created a list of the object of the class ObjMetaClass
. Which contains some meta-information about its object points
(points
: a property of the ObjMetaClass
class).
But points
can be of two types, one TwoPointsPattern
class and the other two ThreePointsPattern
class
My concern is that whenever I want to access any item, I first need to check which item is stored in the current item for casting (is it TwoPointsPattern
orThreePointsPattern
)
List<ObjMetaClass> objList = new List<ObjMetaClass>();
// some items
objList.Add(new ObjMetaClass(new TwoPointsPattern(...), isTwoPointsPattern:true, rate:124));
objList.Add(new ObjMetaClass(new ThreePointsPattern(...), isTwoPointsPattern:false, rate:654));
// access items from list
for (int i = 0; i < objList.Count; i++)
{
// check for casting object
if(objList[i].isTwoPointsPattern)
TwoPointsPattern temp = objList[i].points as TwoPointsPattern;
/* some logic or function call */
else
ThreePointsPattern temp = objList[i].points as ThreePointsPattern;
/* some logic or function call */
}
Is there a better way to improve it or avoid if
checks? Any suggestions, please
Structures of classes
ObjMetaClass
public class ObjMetaClass
{
public object points { get; internal set; }
public bool isTwoPointsPattern { get; internal set; }
internal int rate { get; set; }
public ObjMetaClass(object points, bool isTwoPointsPattern, int rate)
{
// check expected type of points object
if (points.GetType() != typeof(TwoPointsPattern) &&
points.GetType() != typeof(ThreePointsPattern))
throw new ArgumentException("Expected types TwoPointsPattern and ThreePointsPattern");
this.points = points;
this.isTwoPointsPattern = isTwoPointsPattern;
this.rate = rate;
}
}
TwoPointsPattern and ThreePointsPattern
public class TwoPointsPattern
{
public double FirstDate { get; internal set; }
public double FirstPrice { get; internal set; }
public double SecondDate { get; internal set; }
public double SecondPrice { get; internal set; }
public TwoPointsPattern(double FirstDate, double FirstPrice, double SecondDate, double SecondPrice)
{
this.FirstDate = FirstDate; this.FirstPrice = FirstPrice;
this.SecondDate = SecondDate; this.SecondPrice = SecondPrice;
}
}
public class ThreePointsPattern
{
public double FirstDate { get; internal set; }
public double FirstPrice { get; internal set; }
public double SecondDate { get; internal set; }
public double SecondPrice { get; internal set; }
public double ThirdDate { get; internal set; }
public double ThirdPrice { get; internal set; }
public ThreePointsPattern(double FirstDate, double FirstPrice, double SecondDate, double SecondPrice,
double ThirdDate, double ThirdPrice)
{
this.FirstDate = FirstDate; this.FirstPrice = FirstPrice;
this.SecondDate = SecondDate; this.SecondPrice = SecondPrice;
this.ThirdDate = ThirdDate; this.ThirdPrice = ThirdPrice;
}
}
First approach - inheritance:
public class TwoPointsPattern
{
public double FirstDate { get; internal set; }
public double FirstPrice { get; internal set; }
public double SecondDate { get; internal set; }
public double SecondPrice { get; internal set; }
public TwoPointsPattern(double FirstDate, double FirstPrice, double SecondDate,
double SecondPrice)
{
this.FirstDate = FirstDate; this.FirstPrice = FirstPrice;
this.SecondDate = SecondDate; this.SecondPrice = SecondPrice;
}
public virtual void DoSomeLogic()
{...}
}
public class ThreePointsPattern : TwoPointsPattern
{
public double ThirdDate { get; internal set; }
public double ThirdPrice { get; internal set; }
public ThreePointsPattern(double FirstDate, double FirstPrice,
double SecondDate, double SecondPrice, double ThirdDate, double ThirdPrice)
: base(FirstDate, FirstPrice, SecondDate, SecondPrice)
{
this.ThirdDate = ThirdDate; this.ThirdPrice = ThirdPrice;
}
public override void DoSomeLogic()
{...}
}
public class ObjMetaClass
{
public TwoPointsPattern points { get; internal set; }
...
}
// access items from list
for (int i = 0; i < objList.Count; i++)
{
objList[i].points.DoSomeLogic();
}
Second approach - interfaces:
public interface ISomeLogic
{
void DoSomeLogic();
}
public class TwoPointsPattern : ISomeLogic
{
public void DoSomeLogic();
}
public class ThreePointsPattern : ISomeLogic
{
public void DoSomeLogic();
}
public class ObjMetaClass
{
public ISomeLogic points { get; internal set; }
...
}
// access items from list
for (int i = 0; i < objList.Count; i++)
{
objList[i].points.DoSomeLogic();
}
From the code you shown looks like ThreePointsPattern
can be a child for the TwoPointsPattern
so 1st approach would be better, if I didn't miss anything.