How can I convert an object to a nullable generic in C#?

How can I convert an object to a nullable generic in C#? - c#

I have a class which contains answers for questions
The answers are stored in a string
I have created a method like so:
public void set_answer(object obj){
.....
}
which will take as an arguement a variable, and according to the question type will change it into a string representation, so for example if the answer is a string it will keep it as it is, if it is a DateTime it will change it to a yyyy-MM-dd format plus about 8 other transformations
I wish to create the opposite method, which will return the answer in the original type
I have the following code:
public T? get_answer<T>() {
//this means that the answer has not been set yet
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(_answer)) return null;
object reply = null;
switch (_answer_type) {
...do stuff here to transform the string to the correct type, which will match T
}
<here is the problem>
}
At the end of this code, the reply variable will contain either null or a variable of type T
how can I return that value?
in my code I will be using it like this :
DateTime? date = question.get_answer<DateTime>();
which should return null if no answer has been set yet or the request was for an incorrect type (i.e. asked for a datetime answer on a Tupple question)
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide

If you have a MyMethod<T> and for the most part it consists of code like if (T is Type1) {...} else if (T is Type2) {...} else if [etc], then very often you shouldn't be using a generic method in the first place.
In such a case I would recommend to use this:
public class MyClass
{
public string _answer;
public DateTime? GetDate()
{
DateTime result;
if (DateTime.TryParse(_answer, out result)) return result;
return null;
}
public int? GetInt()
{
int result;
if (int.TryParse(_answer, out result)) return result;
return null;
}
// etc
}
and to test it:
public void TestIt()
{
var x = new MyClass { _answer = "gaga" };
var d = x.GetDate();
var i = x.GetInt();
// etc
}
Or if you must use a single obj...
public void TestIt()
{
var x = new MyClass { _answer = "gaga" };
object obj = x.GetDate();
if (obj == null) obj = x.GetInt();
// etc
}
Or in one statement:
public void TestIt()
{
var x = new MyClass { _answer = "gaga" };
var obj = (object) x.GetDate() ?? x.GetInt() /* ?? [etc] */ ;
}

Related

c# generic method take function as param

I'm trying to understand a way to pass in two or more extension methods to a another method as parameters and return the value back. I have extension methods for each datatype to return a value or default value and a value or a null value and also a value or throw an error. The code has scenarios that would require each of these, but it also has scenarios combining the results from each of these in a ternary test, examples below.
public static int IntOrError(this object val, string fieldName)
{
int test;
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(val.ToString()))
{
throw new Exception("I threw it");
}
else if (int.TryParse(val.ToString(), out test) == false)
{
throw new Exception("Bad Int Value");
}
else
{
return test;
}
}
public static int IntOrDefault(this object val)
{
int test;
if (int.TryParse(val.ToString(), out test))
{
return test;
}
else
{
return -1;
}
}
public static int? IntOrNull(this object val)
{
int test;
if (int.TryParse(val.ToString(), out test))
{
return test;
}
else
{
return -1;
}
}
I've been trying to make a reusable method that could process taking in in this example IntOrNull, IntOrDefault and IntOrError and pass back the int or throw an error. So far I've only been able to get this to work. I'm trying to avoid creating this method for every datatype also.
public static int IntDefaultValidated(this object val, string fieldName)
{
return val.IntOrNUll() != null
? val.IntOrDefaultError(fieldName)
: val.IntOrDefault();
}
I am trying to get a generic method or a functional style of method that will take in the extension methods as params and return back the value.
I'm hoping to avoid reflection if possible.
//just a psuedo example
var intVal = "";
var valRet = DefaultValidated(intVal.IntOrNull(), intVal.IntOrdefault(), intVal.IntOrDefaultError("intVal"));
//or maybe like this, or some combination of extension, generic, functional
var valRet = intVal.DefaultOrValidated(IntOrNull(intVal), IntOrDefault(intVal), IntOrDefaultError(intVal, "intVal"));

Your logic of IntOrDefault, IntOrNull and IntDefaultValidated does not really make sense, so I think it's just an usage example.
Beside this - my advice is to implement your functions as generic extensions.
public static class MyExtensions
{
public static T ValueOrError<T>(this object val)
{
try
{
// http://stackoverflow.com/a/8633/2534462
return (T)Convert.ChangeType(val, typeof(T));
} catch
{
throw new Exception("Throw your own exception if you really want to");
}
}
public static T ValueOrDefault<T>(this object val, T defaultValue)
{
try
{
return val.ValueOrError<T>();
}
catch
{
return defaultValue; // usally use: return default(T);
}
}
public static T ValueOrNull<T>(this object val)
{
try
{
return val.ValueOrError<T>();
}
catch
{
// check for nullable type
//https://msdn.microsoft.com/de-de/library/ms366789.aspx
var type = typeof(T);
if (type.IsGenericType && type.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(Nullable<>))
{
return default(T); // null on nullable types
} else {
throw new Exception("Callable only on Nullable types");
// my return another default value ??? .. -1 ???
}
}
}
public static T ValueDefaultValidated<T>(this object val, T defaultValue)
{
return val.ValueOrNull<T>() != null
? val.ValueOrError<T>()
: val.ValueOrDefault<T>(defaultValue);
}
}
Usage
string aNumber = "10";
var intNumber = aNumber.ValueDefaultValidated(-1); // int
var decNumber = aNumber.ValueDefaultValidated(-1m); // decimal
string naNumber = "whatever";
var defaultInt = naNumber.ValueOrDefault(-1); // int
var defaultDecimal = naNumber.ValueDefaultValidated<decimal?>(-1m);
// ValueOrNull ist undefined on Non-Nullable-Type.
var undefined = naNumber.ValueDefaultValidated<decimal>(-1m);

Something like this?
public static T Convert<T>(this object input)
{
if (typeof (T) == input.GetType())
return (T) input;
var stringValue = input.ToString();
var converter = TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(typeof(T));
if (converter.CanConvertFrom(typeof(string)))
{
return (T)converter.ConvertFrom(stringValue);
}
return default(T);
}
This test passes. May be this is not exactly what you need but still.
[Fact]
public void TestMethod1()
{
object testInt = 1;
object testString = "123";
double testDouble = 1.0;
string testWrong = "abc";
int resultInt = testInt.Convert<int>();
string resultString = testString.Convert<string>();
int resultIntString = testString.Convert<int>();
int dbl2int = testDouble.Convert<int>();
Assert.Throws<Exception>(() => testWrong.Convert<int>());
Assert.Equal(1, resultInt);
Assert.Equal("123", resultString);
Assert.Equal(123, resultIntString);
Assert.Equal(1, dbl2int);
}

How can I make a field in a class be set to false if the value being set is a null?

I have the following:
var result2 = result1
.Select((t, index) => new {
Answer = t.Answer,
Answers = JSON.FromJSONString<Answer2>(t.AnswerJSON)
});
return Ok(result2);
public class Answer2 {
public bool? Correct; // Maybe this should be a property
public bool Response; // Maybe this should be a property
}
And my String > object function:
public static T FromJSONString<T>(this string obj) where T : class
{
if (obj == null)
{
return null;
}
using (var stream = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(obj)))
{
DataContractJsonSerializer ser = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(T));
T ret = (T)ser.ReadObject(stream);
return ret;
}
}
Is there a way with this that I could make the Response field be false if a null is present for Response in the JSON string or if there is no value for Response in the JSON string?
Note: I had a suggestion about using a property and I think that would work but I am not sure how to do it in practice.

You should use a property for this matter:
public class Answer2 {
private bool correct; // This field has no need to be nullable
public bool? Correct
{
get { return correct; }
set { correct = value.GetValueOrDefault(); }
}
}

Following the Q and A section, you should be able to do it on a property like this:
private bool? whatever;
public bool? Whatever
{
get { return whatever; }
set
{
if (value == null)
whatever = false;
else
whatever = value;
}
}
This way you can pass a null value to the property, but it can only have a bool (true/false) value in it.

How to unbox from object to type it contains, not knowing that type at compile time?

At the run-time I get boxed instance of some type. How to unbox it to underlying type?
Object obj;
String variable = "Some text";
obj = variable // boxing;
// explicit unboxing, because we know the type of variable at compile time.
var x = (String)obj
// Now let's pretend that we don't know the type of underlying object at compile time.
Type desiredType = obj.GetType(); // But we can figure out.
//And now the question.
//How to express something like this:
var y = (desiredType)obj; //Need to get unboxed instance of initial variable here;

If you don't know the type at compile time, then you can't unbox because you have nowhere to put it - all you can do is store it in an object, which is: boxed.
The same also applies to reference-types like string: you can't cast it to the right type if you don't know the type at compile time: you have nowhere to put it.
You can special-case a few types, for example:
if(obj is int) {
int i = (int)obj;
...
} ...
Another trick that is sometimes (not often) helpful is to switch into generics; then instead of talking in terms of object you are talking in terms of T. This has... limited use though. The easiest way to do that is via dynamic, for example:
dynamic obj = ...
Foo(obj);
...
Foo<T>(T val) { ... code with T ... }
you can also add special cases to that appreach:
Foo(string val) { ... code with string ...}
Foo(int val) { ... code with int ...}
However, frankly I suggest it may be better to look hard at what you are trying to do.

Now lets suppose, that real boxing occur:
int v = 5;
object o = v; //boxed
Type type = o.GetType(); //will return typeof(int)
int convertedBack = (int)Convert.ChangeType(o, type);
Console.WriteLine (convertedBack); //prints 5
Remark, if you substitute:
object convertedBack = Convert.ChangeType(o, type);
Console.WriteLine (convertedBack); //it still prints 5
Console.WriteLine (o); //it even print 5 here
The reason is that underlying object is still int. I've just used this example to show you, that boxing is irrelevant here. You need to rely on some abstraction in your operations and if you want to cast to int dynamically, what reference type do you wan to use.

In such cases I'm going to use the strategy pattern by using a Dictionary<Type, Action<object>>:
internal class Program
{
private static void Main(string[] args)
{
var something = new Something();
something.ComputeValue(13);
something.ComputeValue(DateTime.Now);
something.ComputeValue(DayOfWeek.Monday);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
internal class Something
{
private static Dictionary<Type, Action<object>> _Strategies;
static Something()
{
// Prepare all available strategies.
_Strategies = new Dictionary<Type, Action<object>>();
_Strategies.Add(typeof(int), ComputeInteger);
_Strategies.Add(typeof(DateTime), ComputeDateTime);
}
public void ComputeValue(object value)
{
Action<object> action;
// Check if we have a matching strategy.
if (!_Strategies.TryGetValue(value.GetType(), out action))
{
// If not, log error, throw exception, whatever.
action = LogUnknownType;
}
// Perform the matching strategy on the given value.
action(value);
}
private static void ComputeDateTime(object source)
{
// We get an object, but we are sure that it will always be an DateTime.
var value = (DateTime)source;
Console.WriteLine("We've got an date time: " + value);
}
private static void ComputeInteger(object source)
{
// We get an object, but we are sure that it will always be an int.
var value = (int)source;
Console.WriteLine("We've got an integer: " + value);
}
private static void LogUnknownType(object source)
{
// What should we do with the drunken sailor?
var unknownType = source.GetType();
Console.WriteLine("Don't know how to handle " + unknownType.FullName);
}
}

Here's an example of exactly why you would do this:
class MyClass
{
public int Id {get;set;}
public string Name {get;set;}
public decimal Val {get;set;}
}
int i = 0;
var myClassImp = new MyClass();
foreach (var val in new [object]{"10", "My name", "100.21"} // Could be read from some data source, such as an excel spreadsheet
{
var prop = typeof(MyClass).GetProperties().ElementAt(i++);
// !!!!!! THROWS EXCEPTION !!!!!!!
prop.SetValue(myClassImp, System.Convert.ChangeType(val, prop.PropertyType), null);
}
The reason for this is because the value is a boxed object... at runtime you do not know the type, so you would have to unbox to the prop.PropertyType

A pragmatic solution; try and use a TypeConverter directly, and if that fails, convert to string and back again:-
private static T GetValueOfType<T>(this ManagementBaseObject MBO, String FieldName) {
T lResult;
try {
Object lObj = MBO[FieldName];
var lSrcType = lObj.GetType();
var lDestType = typeof(T);
if (lDestType.IsValueType && lDestType.IsAssignableFrom(lSrcType)) {
lResult = (T)lObj;
return lResult;
}
var lDestTC = TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(typeof(T));
if (lDestTC.CanConvertFrom(lSrcType)) {
lResult = (T)lDestTC.ConvertFrom(lObj);
} else {
var lSrcTC = TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(lSrcType);
String lTmp = lSrcTC.ConvertToInvariantString(lObj);
lResult = (T)lDestTC.ConvertFromInvariantString(lTmp);
}
} catch {
lResult = default(T);
}
return lResult;
}

Use expressions:
var y = DynamicCast(obj, desiredType);
static object DynamicCast(object source, Type type)
{
var parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(object), "input");
var cast = Expression.TypeAs(Expression.Convert(parameter, type), typeof(object));
var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<object, object>>(cast, parameter);
var func = lambda.Compile();
return func(source);
}

public static string GetType(object data)
{
Type type = data.GetType();
return Convert.ChangeType(data, type).GetType().Name;
}
Hi,this method receives object data and returns string type name of object.
Hope this is what you need.

you can try using the dynamic runtime
[Test]
public void Test_UnboxingAtRuntime()
{
object boxed = "Hello";
//this line is commented out as it does not compile
// OverloadedMethod(boxed);
var result = CallCorrectMethod(boxed);
Assert.That(result, Is.EqualTo("string"));
boxed = 1;
result = CallCorrectMethod(boxed);
Assert.That(result, Is.EqualTo("int"));
}
public string CallCorrectMethod(dynamic t)
{
return OverloadedMethod(t);
}
public string OverloadedMethod(string s)
{
return "string";
}
public string OverloadedMethod(int s)
{
return "int";
}

How to diff two versions of same object?

I want to compare two objects of different versions and display their differences in UI.
First I call a method to know if there is any difference between the two objects
The method is:
public bool AreEqual(object object1,object object2, Type comparisionType)
If the above method returns true, I call the GetDifferences method to get the differences which is:
public ObjectDifference[] GetObjectDifferences(object object1, object object2, Type comparisionType)
{
ArrayList memberList = new ArrayList();
ArrayList differences = new ArrayList();
memberList.AddRange(comparisionType.GetProperties());
memberList.AddRange(comparisionType.GetFields());
for (int loopCount = 0; loopCount < memberList.Count; loopCount++)
{
object objVal1 = null;
object objVal2 = null;
MemberInfo member = ((MemberInfo)memberList[loopCount]);
switch (((MemberInfo)memberList[loopCount]).MemberType)
{
case MemberTypes.Field:
objVal1 = object1 != null ? ((FieldInfo)memberList[loopCount]).GetValue(object1) : null;
objVal2 = object2 != null ? ((FieldInfo)memberList[loopCount]).GetValue(object2) : null;
break;
case MemberTypes.Property:
objVal1 = object1 != null ? ((PropertyInfo)memberList[loopCount]).GetValue(object1, null) : null;
objVal2 = object2 != null ? ((PropertyInfo)memberList[loopCount]).GetValue(object2, null) : null;
break;
default:
break;
}
if (AreValuesDifferentForNull(objVal1, objVal2))
{
ObjectDifference obj = new ObjectDifference(objVal1, objVal2, member, member.Name);
differences.Add(obj);
}
else if (AreValuesDifferentForPrimitives(objVal1, objVal2))
{
ObjectDifference obj = new ObjectDifference(objVal1, objVal2, member, member.Name);
differences.Add(obj);
}
else if (AreValuesDifferentForList(objVal1, objVal2))
{
ObjectDifference[] listDifference = GetListDifferences((ICollection)objVal1, (ICollection)objVal2, member);
differences.AddRange(listDifference);
}
else if ((!AreValuesEqual(objVal1, objVal2)) && (objVal1 != null || objVal2 != null))
{
ObjectDifference obj = new ObjectDifference(objVal1, objVal2, member, member.Name);
differences.Add(obj);
}
}
return (ObjectDifference[])differences.ToArray(typeof(ObjectDifference));
}
public class ObjectDifference
{
private readonly object objectValue1;
private readonly object objectValue2;
private readonly System.Reflection.MemberInfo member;
private readonly string description;
public object ObjectValue1
{
get { return objectValue1; }
}
public object ObjectValue2
{
get { return objectValue2; }
}
public System.Reflection.MemberInfo Member
{
get { return member; }
}
public string Description
{
get { return description; }
}
public ObjectDifference(object objVal1, object objVal2, System.Reflection.MemberInfo member, string description)
{
this.objectValue1 = objVal1;
this.objectValue2 = objVal2;
this.member = member;
this.description = description;
}
}
For each difference I create an object of type ObjectDifference and add it to the array. The highlighted portion is the one where I am stuck! If the object contains another complex object, My program does give me the differences but I dont know which type it belonged to
For example, I have two objects of type Name
class Name
{
string firstName, LastName;
List phNumber;
}
class PhoneNumber
{
string officeNo, MobileNo, HomeNo;
}
while comparing two objects the output I get is plain -
firstname - John Mary
LastName - cooper Lor
officeNo - 22222 44444
MobileNo - 989898 089089
HomeNo - 4242 43535
The Hierarchy that officeNo is of type PhoneNumber is lost, which is important for me to display.
How should I maintain this type of tree while creating differences? Hope I am able to make my problem understood.

What you are trying to do and display is inherently complex. I've done this in the past (for diffgram/delta-based processes), and even trying to display nested changes in a simple and friendly way is tricky.
If it fits your user-base, one option might be to simply serialize the two graphs as xml, and use something like xml diff.

How to parse a string into a nullable int

I'm wanting to parse a string into a nullable int in C#. ie. I want to get back either the int value of the string or null if it can't be parsed.
I was kind of hoping that this would work
int? val = stringVal as int?;
But that won't work, so the way I'm doing it now is I've written this extension method
public static int? ParseNullableInt(this string value)
{
if (value == null || value.Trim() == string.Empty)
{
return null;
}
else
{
try
{
return int.Parse(value);
}
catch
{
return null;
}
}
}
Is there a better way of doing this?
EDIT: Thanks for the TryParse suggestions, I did know about that, but it worked out about the same. I'm more interested in knowing if there is a built-in framework method that will parse directly into a nullable int?

int.TryParse is probably a tad easier:
public static int? ToNullableInt(this string s)
{
int i;
if (int.TryParse(s, out i)) return i;
return null;
}
Edit #Glenn int.TryParse is "built into the framework". It and int.Parse are the way to parse strings to ints.

You can do this in one line, using the conditional operator and the fact that you can cast null to a nullable type (two lines, if you don't have a pre-existing int you can reuse for the output of TryParse):
Pre C#7:
int tempVal;
int? val = Int32.TryParse(stringVal, out tempVal) ? tempVal : (int?)null;
With C#7's updated syntax that allows you to declare an output variable in the method call, this gets even simpler.
int? val = Int32.TryParse(stringVal, out var tempVal) ? tempVal : (int?)null;

[Updated to use modern C# as per #sblom's suggestion]
I had this problem and I ended up with this (after all, an if and 2 returns is soo long-winded!):
int? ToNullableInt (string val)
=> int.TryParse (val, out var i) ? (int?) i : null;
On a more serious note, try not to mix int, which is a C# keyword, with Int32, which is a .NET Framework BCL type - although it works, it just makes code look messy.

C# >= 7.1
var result = int.TryParse(foo, out var f) ? f : default;
See C# language versioning to ascertain what language version your project supports

Glenn Slaven: I'm more interested in knowing if
there is a built-in framework method
that will parse directly into a
nullable int?
There is this approach that will parse directly to a nullable int (and not just int) if the value is valid like null or empty string, but does throw an exception for invalid values so you will need to catch the exception and return the default value for those situations:
public static T Parse<T>(object value)
{
try { return (T)System.ComponentModel.TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(typeof(T)).ConvertFrom(value.ToString()); }
catch { return default(T); }
}
This approach can still be used for non-nullable parses as well as nullable:
enum Fruit { Orange, Apple }
var res1 = Parse<Fruit>("Apple");
var res2 = Parse<Fruit?>("Banana");
var res3 = Parse<int?>("100") ?? 5; //use this for non-zero default
var res4 = Parse<Unit>("45%");
NB: There is an IsValid method on the converter you can use instead of capturing the exception (thrown exceptions does result in unnecessary overhead if expected). Unfortunately it only works since .NET 4 but there's still an issue where it doesn't check your locale when validating correct DateTime formats, see bug 93559.

Old topic, but how about:
public static int? ParseToNullableInt(this string value)
{
return String.IsNullOrEmpty(value) ? null : (int.Parse(value) as int?);
}
I like this better as the requriement where to parse null, the TryParse version would not throw an error on e.g. ToNullableInt32(XXX). That may introduce unwanted silent errors.

Try this:
public static int? ParseNullableInt(this string value)
{
int intValue;
if (int.TryParse(value, out intValue))
return intValue;
return null;
}

I feel my solution is a very clean and nice solution:
public static T? NullableParse<T>(string s) where T : struct
{
try
{
return (T)typeof(T).GetMethod("Parse", new[] {typeof(string)}).Invoke(null, new[] { s });
}
catch (Exception)
{
return null;
}
}
This is of course a generic solution which only require that the generics argument has a static method "Parse(string)". This works for numbers, boolean, DateTime, etc.

You can forget all other answers - there is a great generic solution:
http://cleansharp.de/wordpress/2011/05/generischer-typeconverter/
This allows you to write very clean code like this:
string value = null;
int? x = value.ConvertOrDefault();
and also:
object obj = 1;
string value = null;
int x = 5;
if (value.TryConvert(out x))
Console.WriteLine("TryConvert example: " + x);
bool boolean = "false".ConvertOrDefault();
bool? nullableBoolean = "".ConvertOrDefault();
int integer = obj.ConvertOrDefault();
int negativeInteger = "-12123".ConvertOrDefault();
int? nullableInteger = value.ConvertOrDefault();
MyEnum enumValue = "SecondValue".ConvertOrDefault();
MyObjectBase myObject = new MyObjectClassA();
MyObjectClassA myObjectClassA = myObject.ConvertOrDefault();

I would suggest following extension methods for string parsing into int value with ability to define default value in case parsing is not possible:
public static int ParseInt(this string value, int defaultIntValue = 0)
{
return int.TryParse(value, out var parsedInt) ? parsedInt : defaultIntValue;
}
public static int? ParseNullableInt(this string value)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value))
return null;
return value.ParseInt();
}

The following should work for any struct type. It is based off code by Matt Manela from MSDN forums. As Murph points out the exception handling could be expensive compared to using the Types dedicated TryParse method.
public static bool TryParseStruct<T>(this string value, out Nullable<T> result)
where T: struct
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value))
{
result = new Nullable<T>();
return true;
}
result = default(T);
try
{
IConvertible convertibleString = (IConvertible)value;
result = new Nullable<T>((T)convertibleString.ToType(typeof(T), System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture));
}
catch(InvalidCastException)
{
return false;
}
catch (FormatException)
{
return false;
}
return true;
}
These were the basic test cases I used.
string parseOne = "1";
int? resultOne;
bool successOne = parseOne.TryParseStruct<int>(out resultOne);
Assert.IsTrue(successOne);
Assert.AreEqual(1, resultOne);
string parseEmpty = string.Empty;
int? resultEmpty;
bool successEmpty = parseEmpty.TryParseStruct<int>(out resultEmpty);
Assert.IsTrue(successEmpty);
Assert.IsFalse(resultEmpty.HasValue);
string parseNull = null;
int? resultNull;
bool successNull = parseNull.TryParseStruct<int>(out resultNull);
Assert.IsTrue(successNull);
Assert.IsFalse(resultNull.HasValue);
string parseInvalid = "FooBar";
int? resultInvalid;
bool successInvalid = parseInvalid.TryParseStruct<int>(out resultInvalid);
Assert.IsFalse(successInvalid);

I'm more interested in knowing if there is a built-in framework method that will parse directly into a nullable int?
There isn't.

This solution is generic without reflection overhead.
public static Nullable<T> ParseNullable<T>(string s, Func<string, T> parser) where T : struct
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(s) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(s.Trim())) return null;
else return parser(s);
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Nullable<int> i = ParseNullable("-1", int.Parse);
Nullable<float> dt = ParseNullable("3.14", float.Parse);
}

I felt I should share mine which is a bit more generic.
Usage:
var result = "123".ParseBy(int.Parse);
var result2 = "123".ParseBy<int>(int.TryParse);
Solution:
public static class NullableParse
{
public static Nullable<T> ParseBy<T>(this string input, Func<string, T> parser)
where T : struct
{
try
{
return parser(input);
}
catch (Exception exc)
{
return null;
}
}
public delegate bool TryParseDelegate<T>(string input, out T result);
public static Nullable<T> ParseBy<T>(this string input, TryParseDelegate<T> parser)
where T : struct
{
T t;
if (parser(input, out t)) return t;
return null;
}
}
First version is a slower since it requires a try-catch but it looks cleaner. If it won't be called many times with invalid strings, it is not that important.
If performance is an issue, please note that when using TryParse methods, you need to specify the type parameter of ParseBy as it can not be inferred by the compiler. I also had to define a delegate as out keyword can not be used within Func<>, but at least this time compiler does not require an explicit instance.
Finally, you can use it with other structs as well, i.e. decimal, DateTime, Guid, etc.

I found and adapted some code for a Generic NullableParser class. The full code is on my blog Nullable TryParse
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Globalization;
namespace SomeNamespace
{
/// <summary>
/// A parser for nullable types. Will return null when parsing fails.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
///
public static class NullableParser<T> where T : struct
{
public delegate bool TryParseDelegate(string s, out T result);
/// <summary>
/// A generic Nullable Parser. Supports parsing of all types that implements the tryParse method;
/// </summary>
/// <param name="text">Text to be parsed</param>
/// <param name="result">Value is true for parse succeeded</param>
/// <returns>bool</returns>
public static bool TryParse(string s, out Nullable<T> result)
{
bool success = false;
try
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
{
result = null;
success = true;
}
else
{
IConvertible convertableString = s as IConvertible;
if (convertableString != null)
{
result = new Nullable<T>((T)convertableString.ToType(typeof(T),
CultureInfo.CurrentCulture));
success = true;
}
else
{
success = false;
result = null;
}
}
}
catch
{
success = false;
result = null;
}
return success;
}
}
}

public static void Main(string[] args)
{
var myString = "abc";
int? myInt = ParseOnlyInt(myString);
// null
myString = "1234";
myInt = ParseOnlyInt(myString);
// 1234
}
private static int? ParseOnlyInt(string s)
{
return int.TryParse(s, out var i) ? i : (int?)null;
}

The cleaner way would be to write a separate function or extension method, but if you just want a one-liner:
string s;
int? i = s == null ? (int?)null : int.Parse(s);

You should never use an exception if you don't have to - the overhead is horrible.
The variations on TryParse solve the problem - if you want to get creative (to make your code look more elegant) you could probably do something with an extension method in 3.5 but the code would be more or less the same.

Using delegates, the following code is able to provide reusability if you find yourself needing the nullable parsing for more than one structure type. I've shown both the .Parse() and .TryParse() versions here.
This is an example usage:
NullableParser.TryParseInt(ViewState["Id"] as string);
And here is the code that gets you there...
public class NullableParser
{
public delegate T ParseDelegate<T>(string input) where T : struct;
public delegate bool TryParseDelegate<T>(string input, out T outtie) where T : struct;
private static T? Parse<T>(string input, ParseDelegate<T> DelegateTheParse) where T : struct
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(input)) return null;
return DelegateTheParse(input);
}
private static T? TryParse<T>(string input, TryParseDelegate<T> DelegateTheTryParse) where T : struct
{
T x;
if (DelegateTheTryParse(input, out x)) return x;
return null;
}
public static int? ParseInt(string input)
{
return Parse<int>(input, new ParseDelegate<int>(int.Parse));
}
public static int? TryParseInt(string input)
{
return TryParse<int>(input, new TryParseDelegate<int>(int.TryParse));
}
public static bool? TryParseBool(string input)
{
return TryParse<bool>(input, new TryParseDelegate<bool>(bool.TryParse));
}
public static DateTime? TryParseDateTime(string input)
{
return TryParse<DateTime>(input, new TryParseDelegate<DateTime>(DateTime.TryParse));
}
}

I realise this is an old topic, but can't you simply:
(Nullable<int>)int.Parse(stringVal);
?

I've come up with this one, which has satisfied my requirements (I wanted my extension method to emulate as close as possible the return of the framework's TryParse, but without try{} catch{} blocks and without the compiler complaining about inferring a nullable type within the framework method)
private static bool TryParseNullableInt(this string s, out int? result)
{
int i;
result = int.TryParse(s, out i) ? (int?)i : null;
return result != null;
}

I suggest code bellow. You may work with exception, when convert error occured.
public static class Utils {
public static bool TryParse<Tin, Tout>(this Tin obj, Func<Tin, Tout> onConvert, Action<Tout> onFill, Action<Exception> onError) {
Tout value = default(Tout);
bool ret = true;
try {
value = onConvert(obj);
}
catch (Exception exc) {
onError(exc);
ret = false;
}
if (ret)
onFill(value);
return ret;
}
public static bool TryParse(this string str, Action<int?> onFill, Action<Exception> onError) {
return Utils.TryParse(str
, s => string.IsNullOrEmpty(s) ? null : (int?)int.Parse(s)
, onFill
, onError);
}
public static bool TryParse(this string str, Action<int> onFill, Action<Exception> onError) {
return Utils.TryParse(str
, s => int.Parse(s)
, onFill
, onError);
}
}
Use this extension method in code (fill int? Age property of a person class):
string ageStr = AgeTextBox.Text;
Utils.TryParse(ageStr, i => person.Age = i, exc => { MessageBox.Show(exc.Message); });
OR
AgeTextBox.Text.TryParse(i => person.Age = i, exc => { MessageBox.Show(exc.Message); });

Develop Reference

C# (C-Sharp) is a programming language developed by Microsoft that runs on the .NET Framework.

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