How to simplify if conditions? - php

Question

How can I simplify if conditions, because per each condition I make a new if/elseif and its a lot of code, this is what I have:
$chapters = array('1:data1', '2:data2', '4:datax', '3:datag');
sort($chapters);
$screenshots = array('1:screen1', '2:screen2', '3:screen3', '4:go4');
$chapterCount = count($chapters);
$chapterItems = 0;
foreach ($screenshots as $key => $screenshot) {
$screenshotInfo = explode(':', $screenshot);
$screen[$screenshotInfo[0]] = $screenshotInfo[1];
}
foreach ($chapters as $chapter) {
$chapterInfo = explode(':', $chapter);
$chapterNumber = current($chapterInfo);
// If is the first chapter
if ($chapterNumber == 1) {
echo '<li>'.$chapterInfo[0].'</li>';
// If have only one chapter
if ($chapterItems+1 == $chapterCount) {
echo '<li>'.$screen[$chapterNumber].'</li>';
}
}
// If is a new chapter
elseif ($currentNumber != $chapterNumber) {
echo '<li>'.$screen[$chapterNumber-1].'</li>';
echo '<li>'.$chapterInfo[0].'</li>';
// If is new and last chapter
if ($chapterItems+1 == $chapterCount) {
echo '<li>'.$screen[$chapterNumber].'</li>';
}
}
// If is the last chapter
elseif ($chapterItems+1 == $chapterCount) {
echo '<li>'.$chapterInfo[0].'</li>';
echo '<li>'.$screen[$chapterNumber].'</li>';
}
else {
echo '<li>'.$chapterInfo[0].'</li>';
}
$currentNumber = $chapterNumber;
$chapterItems++;
}
That code works perfect on my tests but I'm sure it have a lot of unneeded code.

Answer 1

If brevity is of more interest than readability, you can use ternary statements.
$foo = true;
$bar = $foo ? 'something' : 'nothing';
echo $bar;
//returns 'something'
$foo = false;
$bar = $foo ? 'something' : 'nothing';
$echo bar;
//returns 'nothing'

Answer 2

May be you could use a function for all the if-conditions. Since all the if-conditions inside are same we could use something like:
$chapters = array('1:data1', '2:data2', '4:datax', '3:datag');
sort($chapters);
$screenshots = array('1:screen1', '2:screen2', '3:screen3', '4:go4');
$chapterCount = count($chapters);
$chapterItems = 0;
foreach ($screenshots as $key => $screenshot) {
$screenshotInfo = explode(':', $screenshot);
$screen[$screenshotInfo[0]] = $screenshotInfo[1];
}
foreach ($chapters as $chapter) {
$chapterInfo = explode(':', $chapter);
$chapterNumber = current($chapterInfo);
if ($chapterNumber == 1) { // If is the first chapter
echo '<li>'.$chapterInfo[0].'</li>';
echo compare($chapterItems,$chapterCount,$screen,$chapterNumber); // If have only one chapter
} elseif ($currentNumber != $chapterNumber) { // If is a new chapter
echo '<li>'.$screen[$chapterNumber-1].'</li>';
echo '<li>'.$chapterInfo[0].'</li>';
echo compare($chapterItems,$chapterCount,$screen,$chapterNumber); // If is new and last chapter
} elseif ($chapterItems+1 == $chapterCount) { // If is the last chapter
echo '<li>'.$chapterInfo[0].'</li>';
echo '<li>'.$screen[$chapterNumber].'</li>';
} else {
echo '<li>'.$chapterInfo[0].'</li>';
}
$currentNumber = $chapterNumber;
$chapterItems++;
}
function compare($chapterItems,$chapterCount,$screen,$chapterNumber) {
if ($chapterItems+1 == $chapterCount) {
return '<li>'.$screen[$chapterNumber].'</li>';
}
return false;
}
Hope this helps you :)

Answer 3

If you check the original code you will see that:
echo '<li>'.$chapterInfo[0].'</li>';
will be printed in every scenario. So we don't actually need an if for that.
The only checks you need is:
isNew and not isFirst
if ($currentNumber != $chapterNumber && $chapterNumber != 1)
so we can print the 'new header':
echo '<li>'.$screen[$chapterNumber-1].'</li>';
And if it's the last one, so we can print the last item footer:
echo '<li>'.$screen[$chapterNumber].'</li>';
So we can simplify by having the bellow code:
foreach ($chapters as $chapter) {
$chapterInfo = explode(':', $chapter);
$chapterNumber = current($chapterInfo);
// If is new AND is not the first print the 'New item header'
if ($currentNumber != $chapterNumber && $chapterNumber != 1) {
echo '<li>'.$screen[$chapterNumber-1].'</li>';
}
// This was being printed in every scenario, so we don't need a if for that
echo '<li>'.$chapterInfo[0].'</li>';
// If it is the last, print the 'Last item footer'
if ($chapterItems+1 == $chapterCount) {
echo '<li>'.$screen[$chapterNumber].'</li>';
}
$currentNumber = $chapterNumber;
$chapterItems++;
}
if your goal is just to remove if/else and get easier code coverage you can do the same thing but only with ternaries like that:
foreach ($chapters as $chapter) {
$chapterInfo = explode(':', $chapter);
$chapterNumber = current($chapterInfo);
echo ($currentNumber != $chapterNumber && $chapterNumber != 1) ? sprintf('<li> %s </li>', $screen[$chapterNumber - 1]) : '';
echo sprintf('<li> %s </li>', $chapterInfo[0]);
echo ($chapterItems + 1 == $chapterCount)? sprintf('<li> %s </li>', $screen[$chapterNumber]): '';
$currentNumber = $chapterNumber;
$chapterItems++;
}