.net - C#: is calling an event handler explicitly really "a good thing to do"?

Question

This question is related to C#, but may be applicable to other languages as well. I have a reservation against using code such as the following:

using System.Windows.Forms;

class MyForm : Form
{
    private Timer myTimer;
    private Button myButton;

    public MyForm()
    {
        // Initialize the components, etc.

        myTimer.Tick += new EventHandler( myTimer_Tick );
        myButton.Click += new EventHandler( myButton_Click );

        myTimer.Start();
    }

    private void myTimer_Tick( object sender, EventArgs eventArgs )
    {
        myTimer.Stop();
        // also, I see a lot of usage of 
        // Timer.Enabled = true/false instead of -^
        myButton_Click( this, ea /* or event EventArgs.Empty, or null */ );
        return;
    }

    private void myButton_Click( object sender, EventArgs eventArgs )
    {
        // do a lot of stuff, with lots of logic that doesn't even use the
        // state of the eventArgs
        return;
    }
}

Am I alone, in that the above style is a pet peeve of mine? Are there others who enjoy the clarity of separating event handling from the workload of functions, or even separating out complex routines into separate functions?

Is there even an accepted style? I feel like any expressiveness and flexibility that event handling in C# has can be lost with styles like this. I feel like if you have a method that means "a button has been clicked", then it should only be called when a button is clicked.

To those who write like this, I would say: if you insist on having an EventHandler method to handle your timer tick, and your button click, then call it something other than button_Click -- perhaps "handleUserEvent( object sender, EventArgs eventArgs )".

Really, though, the question is, are there any style guidelines that are widely used which either support or discourage usage such as the above?

Answer 1

This is definitely not a "personal preference". There is a clear, well-understood approach of how to write code that is well-structured, maintainable, reusable, and understandable. Each method in your code should encapsulate a single piece of reusable functionality. The structure of your code should be:

void ButtonClickEventHandler(...)
{
    UserData userData = //determine user data from event data
    DoUserThing(userData);
}

void DoUserThing(UserData userData)
{
    //do stuff
}

void SomeOtherMethod()
{
    UserData userData = //get userdata from some other source
    DoUserThing(userData);
}

(This is a very loose example. In a proper application everything should be separated into different classes by concern.)