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Start your free trialDominick McCleary
3,012 Pointswhat am i doing wrong?
so i do have the boolean expression at the start (value < 0) but it will not let me proceed because it says i don't have the boolean expression
int value = -1;
string textColor = null;
(value < 0) ? textColor = "red" : textColor = "green";
1 Answer
Steven Parker
231,198 PointsThe ternary operator returns a value, but it doesn't have to assign it.
The result of a ternary operator can be used any way appropriate to a computed value, but you must do something with it. It could be part of an if expression, or a loop, for example. Also, it can contain complete statements as shown in the original code. The provided code can be made to compile and work (but not pass the challenge check) this way:
var x = (value < 0) ? textColor = "red" : textColor = "green";
But this is certainly not a conventional usage. The suggestion by "Receipt Box" is more conventional, and will pass the challenge.
You can also pass the challenge by combining the assignment with the declaration of textColor on line 2:
string textColor = (value < 0) ? "red" : "green";
Dominick McCleary
3,012 PointsThank you that makes much more sense on ternary if operator. I was confused on when "Receipt Box" said I had to assign it to a variable when the video said i didn't
Receipt Box
1,866 PointsReceipt Box
1,866 PointsI couldn't get what you wrote to compile in Visual Studio. I don't think it's possible to use the Ternary Operator to do anything other than assign a value - so you need to structure what you're doing differently, starting with either "return _" or "variable = _".
I changed it to this:
The Treehouse page also gave me an error for a while - make sure you delete all the lines you started with. It'll throw an error if you just comment them out.