Change multiple returns to one

I am working with a pre-written function that currently contains multiple return statements throughout it.  Since I was told in school that every function should have one and only one return statement, I was wondering if there is any construct in DXL like a goto statement which could allow a program to skip over the remainder of a function and go to the end of the function.  I've seen the continue and break statements, but those are only good if you're in a loop.  In this function, there are a number of error checks throughout which return a string value.  I'd like to change it to set a string variable then skip to the end where I would have the return-statement return the string variable.

In general, if possible, I'd like to have something that works a bit like the following quasi-code:

string someFunction() {
    string errMsg = "";
    ...
    ... //run some code
    ...
    if (errCondition1) {
        errMsg = "Error message 1";
        goto exitFunc;
    }
    ...
    ...  //run more code
    ...
    if (errCondition2) {
        errMsg = "Error message 2";
        goto exitFunc;
    }
    ...
    ...  //run more code
    ...
    
    exitFunc:
        return errMsg;
}

Chris

Re: Change multiple returns to one
EHcnck - Tue Jan 03 09:28:17 EST 2017

you should of also learned not to use "goto" statements along with multiple 'return" statements in school depending on the language. DOORS doesn't have a goto/switch statement using if/ifelse/else conditions if you want to limit multiple return statements.

string someFunction() {

    string errMsg = "";
    ...
    ... //run some code
    ...
    if (errCondition1) {
        errMsg = "Error message 1";
    } else {
                ...
                ...  //run more code
                ...
                if (errCondition2) {
                        errMsg = "Error message 2";
                } else {
                        ...
                        ...  //run more code
                        ...
                }
        }
    
        return errMsg;
}

Re: Change multiple returns to one
Mathias Mamsch - Wed Jan 04 04:31:56 EST 2017

The second very common approach, especially if you want to avoid nesting, is to set a flag: 

string someFunction() {
    string errMsg = "";
    ...
    bool flag = true; 
    
    ... //run some code
    ...
    if (errCondition1) {
        errMsg = "Error message 1";
        flag = false; 
    }
    
    if (flag) {
    ...
    ...  //run more code
    ...
    }
    
    if (flag && errCondition2) {
        errMsg = "Error message 2";
        flag = false; 
    }
    
    if (flag) {
        ...
        ...  //run more code
        ...
    }
    
    return errMsg;
}

Just for completeness sake. Regards, Mathias