exiting a method [RESOLVED]

[Andy]

in VB, you can use EXIT SUB to get out of a sub early. What is the syntax for c#?

[Andy]

ok I THINK I got that resolved but here is another problem along the same lines:

		public string FormatPhone (string number)
		{
			try
			{
				if (number.IndexOf("-") > 0 || number.Length <7)
				{
					return number;
				}
			

				//Variables.
				string three, next3, four;

				//is the value 10 digits?
				//possibly a fully - qualified number.
				if (number.Length == 10)
				{
					three = number.Substring(0, 3);
					next3 = number.Substring(3, 3);
					four = number.Substring(6);
					number = three + "-" + next3 + "-" + four;
				}

				//is the value more than 7 but less than 10?
				//possibly a valid 7 digit number.
				if (number.Length==7)
				{
					three = number.Substring(0, 3);
					four = number.Substring(3);
					number = three + "-" + four;
				}

				return number;
			}
			catch (Exception ex)
			{
				MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
			}
			
		}

i get an error saying Not all code paths return a value. and the name FormatPhone is underlined.

what's that mean? is there something wrong with the code?

[brown monkey]

hello mate. your catch doesn't throw a code. that it is. you could try a returning a null string after the exception message is shown

      string f(string s)
      {
         int i;
         try
         {
            i=Convert.ToInt32(s);
         }
         catch(Exception ex)
         {
            MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);  // this doesn't return
            return "";  // you can return a null
         }
         return (i+1).ToString();
      } 

[Andy]

i see. So in order to NOT alter the string passed into the method, simply return that argument back? I didn't realize you had to return something in the catch. SO much different than VB!!

[Andy]

but this:

public string FormatPhone (string number)
        {
            try
            {
                if (number.IndexOf("-") > 0 || number.Length <7)
                {
                    return number;
                } 

is correct? in VB, the 'return number;' would be exit sub. I simply want to get out of the routine when the 'if' statement is TRUE.

[powdir]

it's because you have a return statement within the scope of the try/catch block. I'm guessing the compiler wont see past that.

move your return to AFTER the catch block ends - that is the normal flow (return a zero-length string as an abnormal flow in the catch)