Booleans! What can you say? They're deceivingly complex features of any language, and only the most proficient among us is capable of using them properly.

Miss M. discovered that one of her cow-orkers found a new way to get the most mileage out of a single boolean variable named count in a single method to see if:

  • we're at the end of an enumerator
  • send-mail succeeded
  • the current job id <= zero
  • the length of an exception e-mail is < 2000 characters
  • the current job id <= zero (again)
  • the current enum enumerator has reached the end of the enum 

public override SendMailLog SendEmail(MailInformation mailInfo, 
                                      JobWorkItems    recepients, 
                                      bool            testMode) {
  var sendMailLog = new SendMailLog();
 
  sendMailLog.SendStart = DateTime.Now;
 
  bool count = recepients.Items.Count != 0;

  if (!count) {
     throw new ArgumentNullException("
                 recepients", 
                 "Recipient collection is empty, there is no recipients to send to.");
  }

  count = !string.IsNullOrEmpty(mailInfo.From);

  if (!count) {
     throw new ArgumentNullException(
                "mailInfo", 
		"Missing from address. SMTP servers do not allow sending without a sender.");
  }

  IEnumerator<JobWorkItem> enumerator = recepients.GetEnumerator();

  try {
      while (true) {
        count = enumerator.MoveNext();
        if (!count) {
           break;
        }
        JobWorkItem current = enumerator.Current;

        var mailMessage = new MailMessage(mailInfo.From, current.EmailAddress);
        mailMessage.Subject = mailInfo.Subject;
        mailMessage.Body = PersonalizeEmail(mailInfo, current.EmailAddress);
        mailMessage.IsBodyHtml = true;

        try {
            count = !this.SendMail(mailMessage, testMode);
            if (!count) {
               sendMailLog.SuccessMessages.Add(current.EmailAddress);
               current.Status = JobWorkStatus.Complete;
               count = current.JobId <= 0;

               if (!count) {
                  current.Save();
               }
            }
        } catch (Exception exception) {
          string str = string.Format("Email: {0}\r\nException: {1}\r\n\r\n", 
                                     current.EmailAddress, 
                                     exception.Message);
          sendMailLog.ErrorMessages.Add(str);
          current.Status = JobWorkStatus.Failed;

          count = str.Length < 2000;
          if (!count) {
             str = str.Substring(0, 1999);
          }
          current.Info = str;
          count = current.JobId <= 0;
          if (!count) {
             current.Save();
          }
        }
      }
  } finally {
    count = enumerator == null;
    if (!count) {
       enumerator.Dispose();
    }
  }

  sendMailLog.SendStop = DateTime.Now;
  return sendMailLog;
}
The Count from Sesame Street counts to six.
Six! Six reuses of the same variable! AH HA HA HA HA!
[Advertisement] BuildMaster allows you to create a self-service release management platform that allows different teams to manage their applications. Explore how!