Determining whether a task is active based on many conditions

Question

I wrote a Rails model instance method that checks many separate conditions, and returns a single boolean. It does not employ any nesting of branching structures. Each check has its own comments describing its reasoning. Every check is necessary for the method to return an accurate value, and none of the checks are likely to be reused independently of the other checks. The function is 34 lines long including comments. A colleague reviewing the code suggested that the method may be too long, and therefore would be more readable if broken out into multiple helper methods for greater readability.

def active?
  #Check columns on self first, so if those dont pass,
  #no other records will need to be loaded.
  return false if self[:active] == false && !ignore_column
  return false if self.suspended # here for thoroughness. tasks should never be marked active and suspended.
  return false if self.completed_at # here for thoroughness. tasks should never be marked active and completed.
  if failed_attempts >= MAX_FAILED_ATTEMPTS # here for thoroughness. tasks should never be marked active after the max failed attempts.
    if !suppress_error_emails
      SystemMailer.error message:"Too many failed attempts for task execution. #{failed_attempts}/#{MAX_FAILED_ATTEMPTS} failed attempts for Task #{id}."
    end
    return false
  end
  #If the origin is inactive and not because it is a withdrawn status, then the task should be inactive.
  return false if !evergreen && origin && !origin.active && origin.is_a?(Crm::Status) && !origin.indicates_closed # Status or Subscription

  return false if sequenceable.is_a?(Crm::Case) && sequenceable.sales_stage_id.to_i>Crm::SalesStage.id('Placed') #placed policies shouldn't fire tasks

  #Recruits are always marked inactive because they are users that can't log in.
  #If the person is inactive but not a recruit, the task should be inactive.
  is_a_recruit=person.try(:is_a?,Usage::User) && person.try(:role)==Usage::Role['recruit']
  return false if !person.try(:active) && !is_a_recruit

  if self.template
    template_purpose_id=self.template.template_purpose_id
    purposes=Marketing::Template::TEMPLATE_PURPOSE
    status_opted_out=self.person.status_unsubscribe && template_purpose_id==purposes["Status"][:id]
    con_mktg_opted_out=self.person.is_a?(Crm::Connection) && self.person.marketing_unsubscribe && template_purpose_id==purposes["Consumer Marketing"][:id]
    user_mktg_opted_out=self.person.is_a?(Usage::User) && self.person.marketing_unsubscribe && template_purpose_id==purposes["Agent Marketing"][:id]
    if status_opted_out || con_mktg_opted_out || user_mktg_opted_out
      return false
    end
  end

  return true
end

Is there a magic number of lines where a function or method becomes too long and should be broken out into multiple functions? If so, what is the magic number? Does it depend on the type of code (model/view/controller), or some other circumstance?

Answer 1

Some comments on your code:

• Keep the line length below 80-100 or the code becomes unreadable.
• self[:active] == false -> !self[:active]
• Checks should be terser, encapsulate logic in methods.
• A return at the end of a code block is neither necessary nor idiomatic.
• [Subjective] I usually prefer full-fledge conditionals to guards, indentation helps a lot to see what's going on.

In a first refactor, I'd write a more readable case:

def active?
  case 
  when (!self[:active] && !ignore_column) || suspended || completed_at
    false
  when failed_attempts >= MAX_FAILED_ATTEMPTS
    if suppress_error_emails
      false
    end
      message = "Too many failed attempts for task execution. " + 
        "#{failed_attempts}/#{MAX_FAILED_ATTEMPTS} failed attempts for Task #{id}."
      SystemMailer.error(message: message)
    end
  # ...
  # more conditions here, you get the idea
  # ...
  when template && 
       (status_opted_out? || con_mktg_opted_out? || user_mktg_opted_out?)
    false
  else
    true
  end
end

On a second refactor, I'd probably move all logic to separate methods. Now you could write:

def active?
  condition1? && condition2? && ... && conditionN?
end