How to return multiple data types

Question

I have a method I want to be able to return a list of IWebElements, a list of just the names of the elements or a string array. Is it possible to return multiple data types with one method? Is there a more feasible way to get the different return types without using just one method?

/// <summary>
/// Gets all options belonging to this selected tag
/// </summary>
/// <returns>Returns a list of IWebElements</returns>
public List<IWebElement> SelectAllOptions(IWebDriver driver, ref DataObject masterData)
{
    //Get the ID of the dropdown menu
    DatabaseRetrieval.GetObjectRepository(ref masterData);
    var strDropMenuId = masterData.DictObjectRepository["ID"];
    //Find the dropdown menu and pull all options into a list
    try
    {
        var dropMenu = new SelectElement(driver.FindElement(By.Id(strDropMenuId)));
        return dropMenu.Options as List<IWebElement>;
    }
    catch (NoSuchElementException exception)
    {
        masterData.Logger.Log(Loglevel.Error, "Boom: {0}", exception.Message);
    }
    masterData.Logger.Log(Loglevel.Debug, "No options found for DropDownMenu: {0}", strDropMenuId);
    return null;
}

Answer 1

You can change the return type to a

Dictionary<IWebElement, string>

Once you have the compiled the list of IWebElements, then you can simply add the associated string with the IWebElement into a Dictionary to return - whoever calls your method will have both the IWebElement and the string for processing.

var options = dropMenu.Options as List<IWebElement>;
if (options != null)
{
    var values = options.ToDictionary(option => option, option => option.Text);
    return values;
}

Answer 2

You can't return multiple types. You can however:

1. Create a type that holds all the possible return types
2. Use .Net's Tuple instead
3. Have out parameters.

But that's a very bad design decision and you should really consider avoiding it. (It usually means your method does more than it should)

Answer 3

Yes but You have to use the out paramaters like the following

 public List<IWebElement> SelectAllOptions(IWebDriver driver, ref DataObject masterData, out SomeType returnResult1, out SomeType returnResult2)