c# - Streamline Date Parsing into method -

i'm trying think of cleaner way this. want move helper method not using out params. realize have use out params tryparse, don't have choice i'd kind of reusable method:

startdate , enddate in "yyyy/mm/dd" format , string begin , i'm parsing below.

datetime startdt; datetime enddt; startdt = (datetime.tryparse(startdate, out startdt) ? startdt : datetime.now); enddt = ((!datetime.tryparse(enddate, out enddt) || string.isnullorempty(enddate))) ? (startdt.addminutes(configuration.instance.recentorderswindowdurationminutes)) : enddt; 

well, if want 2 results single method have either use out parameters or wrapping type. if you're lazy , doing once, use tuple<datetime, datetime>.

public tuple<datetime, datetime> getrange(string startdate, string enddate) {     datetime startdt;     datetime enddt;      if (!datetime.tryparse(startdate, out startdt))         startdate = datetime.now;      if (string.isnullorempty(enddate) || !datetime.tryparse(enddate, out enddt))         enddt = startdt.addminutes(configuration.instance.recentorderswindowdurationminutes);      return new tuple<datetime, datetime>(startdt, enddt); } 

if you're looking more generalized case, dealing 1 @ time, write tryparse accepts default value.

public datetime tryparseordefault(string str, datetime def) {     datetime ret;     if (datetime.tryparse(str, out ret))         return ret;     else         return def; { 

edit:

in re comment, concrete type this:

public class daterange {     public datetime startdate { get; set; }     public datetime enddate { get; set; } } 

then use instead of tuple<datetime, datetime>.