C# Error passing a new struct variable to a method?

Question

I have a method that is supposed to accept a structure variable and return a bool. This is working fine - at least in terms of syntax, perhaps.

private bool equalsidcomparison(Employee newGuy)
    { 
        foreach (Employee E in employees)
        { if (E.Name == newGuy.Name || E.phone == newGuy.phone) { return true; } return false; }
        return false;
    }

Later on in a button click method, where i am passing data to a struct variable's fields(newGuy), and then passing newGuy to the method above, I am told that newGuy is an unassigned local variable.

Employee newGuy;
        newGuy.id = nextIDnumber;
        newGuy.Name = txtbName.Text;
        newGuy.department = (string)comboDept.SelectedItem;
        newGuy.title = comboJob.SelectedText;
        newGuy.phone = txtbPhone.Text;


        foreach (Employee E in employees)
        {
            if (equalsidcomparison(newGuy) == true) { };
        }

I feel like this is an easy fix but i'm new and at a loss for what it should be. I've looked around to no avail and I can't stray too far from the process i've used, as it's part of an assignment.

This is usually the solution for variables of other data types, but how would I go about doing it with a struct? I assume I'd have to go through and set "0" values for all its fields? — aBoy
– aBoy, Commented Apr 14, 2017 at 1:40
when I said "assign it an initial value" I mean "Employee newGuy = new Employee();" local variables must all have a value before the method in which it belongs exits. Otherwise, you'll get the compiler error you've just got. — Ousmane D.
– Ousmane D., Commented Apr 14, 2017 at 1:43

Sergey Kalinichenko · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-14 01:35:23Z

2

You need to initialize newGuy with operator new. You can combine its field initialization with the declaration:

Employee newGuy = new Employee {
    id = nextIDnumber
,   Name = txtbName.Text
,   department = (string)comboDept.SelectedItem
,   title = comboJob.SelectedText
,   phone = txtbPhone.Text
};

answered Apr 14, 2017 at 1:35

Sergey Kalinichenko

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1 Comment

aBoy Over a year ago

Perfect. Thank you very much.

pbarrasso · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-14 01:41:26Z

0

You need to instantiate an instance of your variable -- like so:

Employee newGuy = new Employee();
newGuy.id = nextIDnumber;
...

You could also write it as 'var newGuy = new Employee();' (depending on who you ask, this is the better syntax...)

You could also create your object like: (note -- this requires your 'set' method to be accessible)

Employee newGuy = new Employee()
  {
      id = nextIDnumber,
      Name = "something",
      ... 
  };

I would also recommend using consistent casing in your variable names. (id, Name, title, ...). In general, the standard for c# is to use PascalCase for publicly available methods/properties.

answered Apr 14, 2017 at 1:41

pbarrasso

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1 Comment

aBoy Over a year ago

Thanks for the response and suggestion. I usually do a decent job at being consistent with casing but this project is rushed and I got a bit lazy with it

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