Flatten Conditional

• Oct 06, 2021
• 2 minutes to read

Unindents the if or else statement for a conditional. This will apply one of the following refactorings: Replace Nested Conditional with Guard Clause, Remove Redundant Conditional, or Reverse Conditional followed by Remove Redundant Conditional. Flatten Conditional is also smart enough to recognize if (E) returns true; otherwise returns false; and convert that to return E;.

Purpose

This refactoring helps you simplify your conditional clauses, and thus increase code readability.

Availability

Available from the context menu or via shortcuts:

• Replace Nested Conditional with Guard Clause is available if there’s an if statement that lasts until the end of the method body. If applied, this refactoring reverses the condition and exits the method if it’s true. As the result, the entire body of the previous if clause is unindented.

Example

C#

public int GetValueA(bool a, bool b)
{  │if (a)
        if (!b)
            return CalculateValue();
    return 0;
}

// Result
public int GetValueA(bool a, bool b) {
    if (!a)
        return 0;

    if (!b)
        return CalculateValue();
    return 0;
}

VB.NET

Public Function GetValueA(ByVal a As Boolean, ByVal b As Boolean) As Integer│If a Then
        If Not b Then
            Return CalculateValue()
        End If
    End If
    Return 0
End Function

' Result
Public Function GetValueA(ByVal a As Boolean, ByVal b As Boolean) As Integer
    If Not a Then
        Return 0
    End If

    If Not b Then
        Return CalculateValue()
    End If
    Return 0
End Function

Screenshot

Remove Redundant Conditional unindents an else block if the corresponding if block has a guaranteed return statement at the end.

Example

C#

if (productAExists)
    CalculateTotalA();
│else
    CalculateTotalB();

// Result
if (productAExists) {
    CalculateTotalA();
    return;
}
CalculateTotalB();

VB.NET

If ProductAExists Then
    CalculateTotalA()
│Else
    CalculateTotalB()
End If

'Result
If ProductAExists Then
    CalculateTotalA()
    Return
End If
CalculateTotalB()

Screenshot