How to ensure certain properties are always populated when returning object from DAL?

Question

I have a Question class which has a property OptionList, which is nothing but a List. Questions and Options are stored in diff tables in the db.

Now there are times when I need just the Question object without its Relational Properties, that is properties which are entities mapping to a different table in the db. Thus in this case I do not need OptionList populated.

But then again there are times when I need the OptionList Property to be populated.

The approach I am thinking of right now is having two different methods.

public Question GetQuestionByID(int qid)

public Question GetQuestionWitOptions(int qid)

So if I call the second metho, I ensure OptionList is populated in the returned Question object.

Is this a good way to achieve such a result? any alternate ideas and suggestions?

Answer 1

What you have is probably simplest and makes it clear exactly what the method is doing.

The only other alternative is to write an overloaded version:

public Question GetQuestion(int qid, bool withOptions = false)

Answer 2

I'd say it's a pretty good method. You're using defined names with an obvious purpose and function.

The only other suggestion I can think of is to create a second class:

public class QuestionExtended : Question
{
    public QuestionExtended(IEnumerable<Option> options) : base()
    {
        OptionList = new List<Option>(options);
    }

    public List<Option> OptionList { get; private set;}
}

So then the actual class implementation gives an obvious meaning as to what's inside it and what's required for it.