What is this line of code asking?

Question

    public Schedule Schedule
    {
        get
        {
            return (ContractConsignee == null ? null : ContractConsignee.Schedule);
        }
        set
        {
            if (ContractConsignee == null)
            {
                ContractConsignee = new ContractConsignee(Session);
                ContractConsignee.Assignments.Add(this);
            }
            ContractConsignee.Schedule = value;
        }
    }

Someone else wrote this code. I am trying to solve a bug in our system. I'm not familiar with:

 == null ? null : ContractConsignee.Schedule

This is a ternary operator: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ty67wk28.aspx — dbugger, Jun 10 '15 at 14:55
Microsoft provides search engine too in addition to C# and MSDN - https://www.bing.com/search?q=c%23%20what%20is%20question%20mark — Alexei Levenkov, Jun 10 '15 at 15:01
@Rahul how `return ContractConsignee.Schedule` is equivalent to `return return ContractConsignee == null ? null : ContractConsignee.Schedule` ? — Alexei Levenkov, Jun 10 '15 at 15:04

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 10 '15 at 14:53

5

? : is the conditional operator.

If ContractConsignee is null, the getter returns null; otherwise, it will return ContractConsignee.Schedule.

answered Jun 10 '15 at 14:53

Glorfindel

21,988
13
81
109

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 10 '15 at 14:55

2

return (ContractConsignee == null ? null : ContractConsignee.Schedule);

is equivalent to / short form of

if (ContractConsignee == null)
{
    return null;
}
else
{
    return ContractConsignee.Schedule;
}

answered Jun 10 '15 at 14:55

rageit

3,513
1
26
38

What is this line of code asking?

2 Answers2