Rewriting the code without use of GOTO [closed]

Question

This is a code automatically converted from VB 6.0 to C#.net What is a safe and correct way to get rid of that GOTO statement?

public bool IsDirty(bool checkChildrenInd)
{
    bool result = false;
    //Determine if this object is 'dirty', or has been updated since it was created.

    if (Parent.NewInd)
    {
        return true;
    }

    if (backup == null)
    {
        goto CheckChildren; //Check any child lists
    }

    if (!String.Equals(MissingDataValue, backup.MissingDataValue))
    {
        return true;
    }

    if (!String.Equals(PreviewDataValue, backup.PreviewDataValue))
    {
        return true;
    }

    if (FieldOption != backup.FieldOption)
    {
        return true;
    }

CheckChildren:
    if (!checkChildrenInd)
    {
        return result;
    }
    return result;
}

Answer 1

The minimal amount of changes to get rid of the goto is:

public bool IsDirty(bool checkChildrenInd) {
    bool result = false;
    //Determine if this object is 'dirty', or has been updated since it was created.
    if (Parent.NewInd) {
        return true;
    }
    if (backup != null) {
        if (!String.Equals(MissingDataValue, backup.MissingDataValue)) {
            return true;
        }
        if (!String.Equals(PreviewDataValue, backup.PreviewDataValue)) {
            return true;
        }
        if (FieldOption != backup.FieldOption) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    if (!checkChildrenInd) {
        return result;
    }
    return result;
}

Or if you want some refactoring:

public bool IsDirty(bool checkChildrenInd) {
    //Determine if this object is 'dirty', or has been updated since it was created.
    return Parent.NewInd
        || backup != null && CheckBackup()
        || checkChildrenInd && CheckChildren();
}

protected bool CheckBackup() {
    return !String.Equals(MissingDataValue, backup.MissingDataValue)
        || !String.Equals(PreviewDataValue, backup.PreviewDataValue)
        || FieldOption != backup.FieldOption;
}

protected bool CheckChildren() {
    return false; // or delegate, when there are any children
}

Answer 2

EDIT: FIXED

This specific instance can be rewritten as

public bool IsDirty(bool checkChildrenInd) {
  return ! (  Parent.NewId ||
              backup == null ||
              String.Equals(MissingDataValue, backup.MissingDataValue) ||
              String.Equals(PreviewDataValue, backup.PreviewDataValue) ||
              FieldOption == backup.FieldOption );
}

if this pattern is always the same, but there may be other conditions as you note in the comments, I note that CheckChildren

• Takes a parameter which is also the function parameter
• returns on all code paths
• result is never assigned to before the goto statement

If this is always true, you can factor it out. replace the CheckChildren label with a function:

private bool CheckChildren(bool checkChildrenInd){
    bool result = false;
    if (!checkChildrenInd)
    {
        return result;
    }
    return result;
}

and the goto CheckChildren; with return CheckChildren(checkChildrenInd);

if result is possibly set to true before the goto statement, you will need to pass result as a variable to the funcion too (and include it in the signature).