09 Feb 2010

Tip: New .NET 4 String Function to Check for Empty Strings

     

How many times have you written code similar to this?

string firstName = FirstName.Text.Trim();

if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(firstName))
{
    // do something
}

or

if (someParam == null || string.IsNullOrEmpty(someParam.Trim())
    throw new ArgumentException("Empty string", "someParam");

// do something

A nice little time-saver for those guard functions is now included in .NET 4: the IsNullOrWhiteSpace function:

if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(FirstName.Text))
{
    // do something
}

IsNullOrWhiteSpace checks for null, empty or whitespace characters.

Sure, it’s a little thing, but it’s nice to have it in there, especially considering we get all sorts of nice new little things, and the client framework install is still smaller than it was in .NET 3.5

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posted by Pete Brown on Tuesday, February 09, 2010
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15 comments for “Tip: New .NET 4 String Function to Check for Empty Strings”

  1. Gravatar of JoeReply
    Joesays:
    Tuesday, February 09, 2010 at 6:27:50 AM
    Does it avoid the allocation that Trim would give you? (i.e. perform better)
  2. Gravatar of jschroedlReply
    jschroedlsays:
    Tuesday, February 09, 2010 at 9:32:40 AM
    ooh, nice - thanks for the tip
  3. Gravatar of TAGReply
    TAGsays:
    Tuesday, February 09, 2010 at 11:03:32 AM
    TrimStart() can avoid allocation.

    There is no reasons to do trim from both sides - as if string is empty - then it will be empty even then trimming from start.

    But! This practice is flawed. In case if you are trimming strings for purpose of validation - then you should deal with trimmed string for actual processing.

    So you should check for null or empty, then trim and save, then check again, then process data using trimmed data.
  4. Gravatar of JadawinReply
    Jadawinsays:
    Tuesday, February 09, 2010 at 5:20:43 PM
    Time for a new extension method! I guess it'll replace my .IsNullOrTrimIsEmpty() one. :)
  5. Gravatar of Oskar AustegardReply
    Oskar Austegardsays:
    Tuesday, February 09, 2010 at 11:00:03 PM
    nice, but why aren't IsNullOrEmpty and IsNullOrWhiteSpace extension methods?

    What reads better?

    if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(FirstName.Text))

    or

    if (!FirstName.Text.IsNullOrWhiteSpace())
  6. Gravatar of Pete BrownReply
    Pete Brownsays:
    Tuesday, February 09, 2010 at 11:26:11 PM
    @Oskar

    But what if it is null?

    Pete
  7. Gravatar of Bob ValeReply
    Bob Valesays:
    Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 5:09:15 PM
    <p>But an extension method doesn't care if it is null because the compiler rewrites it from </p><p>FirstName.Text.IsNullOrWhiteSpace() to string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(FirstName.Text) you can just use the easier to read form.</p>
  8. Gravatar of Jacob O'ReillyReply
    Jacob O'Reillysays:
    Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 7:07:30 PM
    @Pete.Brown
    Since it would be an extension method, it wouldn't be a problem that the string being used was null. Under the covers it just calls the method with the string as its parameter.
  9. Gravatar of DenisReply
    Denissays:
    Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 7:18:34 PM
    I've tested extension methods on null strings. Not a problem as long as you test the 'this string' parameter for null.
  10. Gravatar of KhalosReply
    Khalossays:
    Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 7:23:32 PM
    @Pete.Brown
    If they are were extension methods like Oskar suggests, it doesn't matter if the instance is null. Extension methods are just syntactic sugar.

    s.ExtensionMethod() is the same as ExtensionClass.ExtensionMethod(s) even is s is null.

    That's one of the great uses of extension methods, which I think is what Oskar was getting it, they didn't use extension methods, so we can't do this.
  11. Gravatar of Erik van BrakelReply
    Erik van Brakelsays:
    Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 7:31:50 PM
    @Pete.Brown: It would still work, but I would agree if you said it would be odd. This would work:

    public static bool IsNullOrWhiteSpace(this input)
    {
    return string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(input);
    }

    As long as you're not calling any methods/properties on the input string it won't fail if it's null. Looks odd though.
  12. Gravatar of Pete BrownReply
    Pete Brownsays:
    Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 9:31:17 PM
    True all.

    I should have stated that it looks really wrong to me when the value is null. I'll get over it, though :)

    As for extension methods in general, as pointed out, you can do that yourself if you want. I think the problem with extension methods in the framework is that it isn't always discoverable. Adding in a namespace (if the method is in System no problems) but adding in a namespace and suddenly getting new functionality on existing types tends to screw new folks up. Linq is a good example of this.

    I like extension methods for their utility, but I think they have discoverability issues.

    Pete
  13. Gravatar of Josh EinsteinReply
    Josh Einsteinsays:
    Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 12:56:04 AM
    I hate the idea of it being an extension method because as noted, it feels totally wrong to have some methods (extension methods) work on null references and others not.

    To Joe up top, yes it avoids the allocation by checking each character with Char.IsWhiteSpace. It doesn't do Trim().Length internally.
  14. Gravatar of RichardReply
    Richardsays:
    Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 1:53:47 PM
    <p>Of course, it's trivial to write your own version of this function in v3.5: </p><p>public static bool IsNullOrWhiteSpace(this string value) </p><p>{ </p><p>  if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value)) </p><p>    return true; </p><p>  return value.All(char.IsWhiteSpace); </p><p>} </p>

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  1. uberVU - social commentssays:
    Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 6:37:02 PM
    This post was mentioned on Twitter by ash2mud: It's the little things, new in .NET 4: string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace() http://bit.ly/b5Bhp1