Quickest (best) way to convert to an int

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Hey friends,

Just a small question about type conversions. What is the best way to convert an object to an integer?

For example, if I retrieve an integer from SQL Server using a Stored Procedure, I use the SqlCommand's ExecuteScalar() method :

object spResult = SqlCommand.ExecuteScalar();

Now i'm (pretty) sure that the spResult variable either is null or contains an integer since my Stored Procedure returns a single int field from my datasource.

If I want to convert the spResult to an int I either use int.Parse(spResult.ToString()); or int.TryParse(spResult.ToString(), out resultInteger); but I have a feeling that this is not the neat way.

What do you guys think?

Thanks! Eduard

Posted 18-Mar-11 2:22am

Eduard Keilholz

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3 solutions

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Tarun.K.S · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-18T02:29:00

Solution 3

If the spResult can contain either null or of type Int, then i would prefer to use

Nullable<int>

Here is the link : http://www.jaltiere.com/index.php/2006/07/24/net-nullable-data-types/[^]

Posted 18-Mar-11 2:29am

Tarun.K.S

Updated 18-Mar-11 2:38am

v4

Comments

Tarun.K.S 18-Mar-11 8:32am

I mean ignore the second int!

Eduard Keilholz 18-Mar-11 8:39am

(removed it ;-)

Tarun.K.S 18-Mar-11 8:40am

Lol thanks!

#realJSOP · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-18T02:27:00

Solution 2

There's:

C#

int value = (int)spResult;
int value = spResult as Int32;
int value = Convert.ToInt32(spResult);

If you're not sure you're going to get an int from the method, you should use

C#

int value;
if (!int.TryParse(spResult, out value))
{
    throw new Exception("Not an int");   
    return;
}

Posted 18-Mar-11 2:27am

#realJSOP

Updated 18-Mar-11 2:28am

v2

Comments

Eduard Keilholz 18-Mar-11 8:34am

Thanks for your response! However, int.TryParse does not accept an object.
Problem is thet both int.Parse and int.TryParse only accept strings, so I need to convert the object to a string first.

jim lahey · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-18T02:26:00

Solution 1

I'm really not sure what's better. I've used this in the past:

C#

int spResult = SqlCommand.ExecuteScalar() as int;

MSDN on the other hand uses a cast like this:

int spResult = (int)SqlCommand.ExecuteScalar();

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.data.sqlclient.sqlcommand.executescalar.aspx[^]

Posted 18-Mar-11 2:26am

jim lahey

Comments

Eduard Keilholz 18-Mar-11 8:32am

Will the MSDN method not throw an exception when the ExecuteScalar method returns null?

The first method does not work since the conversion must be able to return a nullable type. Than this would be a better solution :

Nullable<int> spResult = SqlCommand.ExecuteScalar() as Nullable<int>;
int resultInteger = (spResult.HasValue) ? spResult.Value : -1;

Tarun.K.S 18-Mar-11 8:38am

So my answer worked right?