The If-Then-Else Statement in Delphi Code

In Delphi, the if statement is used to test for a condition and then execute sections of code based on whether that condition is True or False.

A general if-then-else statement looks like this:

 if <condition> then <true block> else <false block>;

Both the "true block" and the "false block" can either be a simple statement or a structured statement (surrounded with a begin-end pair).

Example of a Nested If-Then-Else Statement

Let's consider one example using nested if statements:

 j := 50;
 if j >= 0 then
   if j = 100 then Caption := 'Number is 100!'else
   Caption := 'Number is NEGATIVE!';v
 

What will be the value of "Cation"? Answer: "'Number is NEGATIVE!" Did not expect that?

Note that the compiler does not take your formatting into account, you could have written the above as:

 j := 50;
 if j >= 0 thenif j = 100 then Caption := 'Number is 100!'else
 Caption := 'Number is NEGATIVE!';v
 

or even as (all in one line):

 j := 50; if j >= 0 then if j = 100 then Caption := 'Number is 100!'else
 Caption := 'Number is NEGATIVE!';v
 

The ";" marks the end of a statement.

The compiler will read the above statement as:

 j := 50;
 if j >= 0 then
   if j = 100 then
     Caption := 'Number is 100!'
   else
     Caption := 'Number is NEGATIVE!';
 

or to be more precise:

 j := 50;
 if j >= 0 thenbegin
   if j = 100 then
     Caption := 'Number is 100!'
   else
     Caption := 'Number is NEGATIVE!';
 end;

Our ELSE statement will be interpreted as a part of the "inner" IF statement. The "inner" statement is a closed statement and doesn't need a BEGIN..ELSE.

How to Fix

To make sure you know how your nested if statements are treated by the compiler, and to fix the above "problem", you can write the initial version as:

 j := 50;
 if j >= 0 then
   if j = 100 then Caption := 'Number is 100!' elseelse
   Caption := 'Number is NEGATIVE!';
 

Uh! The ugly "else" ends the nested if line!? Does compile, does work!

The best solution is: always use begin-end pairs with nested if statements:

 j := 50;
 if j >= 0 thenbegin
   if j = 100 then Caption := 'Number is 100!';endelsebegin
   Caption := 'Number is NEGATIVE!';
 end

Too much begin-end pairs for you? Better safe than sorry. Anyway, Code Templates are designed to add commonly used skeleton structures to your source code and then fill in.

Article submitted by Marcus Junglas