What is respective branch? (suggested by ReSharper)

Question

I am using ReSharper to refactor my code, and one of the suggestions of ReSharper is to use a respective branch instead a if statement that is always true.

If I have

if (myVar != null){
   //code
}

And I apply the respective branch the code is like the following

{
   //code
}

Is this a short cut of an if statement? What is this used for? What is the difference between the cutely brackets and nothing?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The block is required to stay there, or semantics would change.

The scope of variables declared inside the branch block would change when you remove the braces. Potentially with conflicting/hiding (lambda) variables this would lead to surprises.

To remove the braces, position the cursor on either one and hit Alt-Enter, 'Remove Braces'

Reintroduce braces: select block of code, Ctrl-Alt-J, 7 to surround with block :)

Answer 2

In ReSharper 6.0 this command also removes braces if you don't have variable declarations inside.