Retrieving OS Platform .NET Core

Question

I'm retrieving the operating system platform with .NET Core with system.runtime.interopservices

I have created the code below and was wondering if there was any other way that I could improve it since I haven't been able to get a switch statement to work in the OperatingSystem class.

/// <summary>
/// Operating System Class
/// For Retrieving The OS
/// Platform.
/// AE : 9/08/2018
/// </summary>
class OperatingSystem
{
 /// <summary>
 /// Operating System Platforms.
 /// </summary>
 public enum OSPlatform
 {
 Windows,
 OSX,
 Linux,
 Not_Supported
 }
 /// <summary>
 /// Return Operating System
 /// </summary>
 public static OSPlatform GetPlatform
 {
 // Switch Statement Not Compatitable
 get
 {
 if (RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(System.Runtime.InteropServices.OSPlatform.Windows))
 {
 return OSPlatform.Windows;
 }
 else if (RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(System.Runtime.InteropServices.OSPlatform.OSX))
 {
 return OSPlatform.OSX;
 }
 else if (RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(System.Runtime.InteropServices.OSPlatform.Linux))
 {
 return OSPlatform.Linux;
 }
 else
 {
 return OSPlatform.Not_Supported;
 }
 }
 }
}

The class is being called like this,

static void Main()
{
 switch (OperatingSystem.GetPlatform)
 {
 case OperatingSystem.OSPlatform.Windows:
 Console.WriteLine("Goto Windows Class");
 break;
 case OperatingSystem.OSPlatform.OSX:
 Console.WriteLine("Goto OSX Class");
 break;
 case OperatingSystem.OSPlatform.Linux:
 Console.WriteLine("Goto Linux Class");
 break;
 default:
 Console.WriteLine("OS Not Supported");
 break;
 }
 Console.ReadKey();
 }

• t3chb0t: I have a question: why have you created another enum that is virtually exactly the same as the core's one instead of using the original one?
• traveler3468: because its not a constant value
• traveler3468: @t3chb0t also from what I can see OSPlatform is a struct and not an enum.
• t3chb0t: So you need a constant value? Could you specify your use case in more detail? Is this only because you like switches? I find it's a bad idea to duplicate those values without a very good reason.
• traveler3468: yeah it just comes down to me preferring switch es over if's once they get past a certian amount of uses and are too long

Answer 1

Review

• Don't use underscores in enum values NotSupported
• The enum value with integer value 0 represents its default value; I would make this NotSupported in order to avoid some bias
• GetPlatform is a method name; prefer Platform as property name
• Since the platform won't change while your program is running, consider using a Lazy to retrieve the platform once.

Don't like if-statements?

Let's first refactor the enum to match aforementioned conventions:

public enum OSPlatform
{
 NotSupported,
 Windows,
 OSX,
 Linux,
}

We could then use a Lazy:

 static readonly Lazy<OSPlatform> platform = new Lazy<OSPlatform>(GetPlatform, true);
 public static OSPlatform Platform => platform.Value;

And refactor the intitial method using a helper generator using a simple ValueTuple to avoid the boiler-plate if-statements.

private static IEnumerable
 <(OSPlatform Platform, RuntimeOSPlatform RuntimePlatform)?> EnumeratePlatforms() 
{
 yield return (OSPlatform.Windows, RuntimeOSPlatform.Windows);
 yield return (OSPlatform.OSX, RuntimeOSPlatform.OSX);
 yield return (OSPlatform.Linux, RuntimeOSPlatform.Linux);
}
private static OSPlatform GetPlatform()
{
 return EnumeratePlatforms().FirstOrDefault(p 
 => RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(p.Value.RuntimePlatform))?.Platform ?? default;
}

I've created an alias to avoid redundant namespace code:

using RuntimeOSPlatform = System.Runtime.InteropServices.OSPlatform;

If you want to have some fun, you could refactor this solution to use Expression and some reflection to avoid creating hard-coded tuples.

• t3chb0t: You're writing answers at a gruelling pace :-O I cannot keep up reading them so there's a small voting lag lol
• dfhwze: @t3chb0t Yeah I checked you weren't only for 27 minutes o_O Please keep up :/ lol :p
• t3chb0t: I'll try but my tokenizer is driving me crazy :P I have more ideas so I'll post a new question soon; I'm adding a context to it and... no more spoilers ;-]
• t3chb0t: I see you have enough green internet points for today... let's save some for tomorrow.