Formatting checks against a session

Question

This is the current code that gets put into a option box, is there a way to make this code more efficient and use less code

<select name="searchTypeSelect" id="searchTypeSelect" size='1' class='searchUtilityMenu' >
 <option value='<%# ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "programmingPLUSearch") ? (string)HttpContext.Current.Session["pluNumberSearchCaptionValue"] : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "programmingLabels") ? (string)HttpContext.Current.Session["labelsNumberSearchCaptionValue"] :
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "programmingTextsSearch") ? (string)HttpContext.Current.Session["textsSearchNumberSearchCaptionValue"] : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "programmingTraceability") ? WorldViewNet.programming.TextsSearch.textsSearchNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "programmingNotBarcodes") ? (string)HttpContext.Current.Session["barcodesNumberSearchCaptionValue"] : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "programmingShops") ? WorldViewNet.programming.Shops.shopsNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "programmingCustomers") ? WorldViewNet.programming.Customers.customersNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "programmingNutrifacts") ? WorldViewNet.programming.Nutrifacts.nutrifactsNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "programmingIngredients") ? WorldViewNet.programming.Ingredients.ingredientsNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "programmingServings") ? WorldViewNet.programming.Servings.servingsNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "programmingImagesSearch") ? (string)HttpContext.Current.Session["imagesSearchNumberSearchCaptionValue"] : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "managementCurrency") ? (string)HttpContext.Current.Session["currencyNumberSearchCaptionValue"] : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "serviceRejector") ? WorldViewNet.service.Rejector.rejectorsNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "systemTemplates") ? (string)HttpContext.Current.Session["templatesNumberSearchCaptionValue"] : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "managementTotals") ? WorldViewNet.management.Totals.totalsNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "managementCookingTimes") ? WorldViewNet.management.CookingTimes.cookingTimesNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "managementTrays") ? WorldViewNet.management.Trays.traysNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "managementAssignMachinePLU") ? WorldViewNet.management.AssignMachinePLU.assignPLUIDSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "serviceSettingsGeneral") ? WorldViewNet.service.settings.General.generalNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "serviceSettingsDateTime") ? WorldViewNet.service.settings.DateTime.dateTimeNumberSearchCaptionValue :
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "serviceDevicesLabellers") ? WorldViewNet.service.devices.Labellers.labellersNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "serviceNetworkConnections") ? WorldViewNet.service.NetworkConnections.networkConnectionsNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "serviceLabellers1") ? WorldViewNet.service.Labellers.labellersNumberSearchCaptionValue :
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "serviceLabellers") ? WorldViewNet.service.Labellers.labellersNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "systemSettingsMachine") ? WorldViewNet.system.settings.Machine.machineNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "systemSystemFields") ? WorldViewNet.system.SystemFields.systemFieldsNumberSearchCaptionValue :
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "systemCategories") ? WorldViewNet.system.Categories.categoriesNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "systemDateFormats") ? WorldViewNet.system.DateFormats.dateFormatsNumberSearchCaptionValue : 
 (
 ((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"] == "systemTimeFormats") ? WorldViewNet.system.TimeFormats.timeFormatsNumberSearchCaptionValue : "nothing"
 ))))))))))))))))))))))))))))%>' />

Answer 1

Consider a Dictionary whose keys are your test strings, and whose values are your results.

e.g.

var sessionTypes = new Dictionary<string, string>()
sessionTypes.Add(
 "programmingLabels",
 (string)HttpContext.Current.Session["labelsNumberSearchCaptionValue"]);
//etc...

Then your code above becomes:

select name="searchTypeSelect" id="searchTypeSelect" size='1' class='searchUtilityMenu' >
 <option value='<%#
 sessionTypes.ContainsKey((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"]) ?
 sessionTypes[(string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"]] : 
 "nothing";
 %>' />

Answer 2

I'd put that whole bit in a method that uses a switch, and call that. Something like:

<option value='<%# GetOption() %>' />

The method in code-behind:

public string GetOption()
{
 switch((string)HttpContext.Current.Session["whichMenu"])
 {
 case "programmingPLUSearch":
 return (string)HttpContext.Current.Session["pluNumberSearchCaptionValue"];
 case "programmingLabels":
 return (string)HttpContext.Current.Session["labelsNumberSearchCaptionValue"];
 // etc etc
 default:
 return "nothing";
 }
}

(削除) Nick Udell's suggestion is also a good idea to also implement next (削除ここまで), but I'd use TryGetValue instead of ContainsKey. UPDATE: Actually, perhaps not. I'm thinking that these session/other variables might get updated often, and then such a dictionary would contain stale data. Of course you could maintain it, but then you basically would be doing twice the work.

I'd also put all these names of keys in a static class as public const string and use those instead of retyping/copy-pasting them when you need them in code.

• Nick Udell: If the variables are updated often, you could alter the value type of the dictionary to be an action that acquires the correct value, but I agree that at that point it is basically a switch statement anyway (although one that could be generated dynamically, perhaps).