Convert to a Nullable<T> from a string using Reflection
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23-08-2019 - |
Question
How can I convert TO a Nullable from a String using reflection?
I have the following code to convert TO almost any value type given almost any value. There is quite a bit of code above this to use the IsAssignableFrom, etc. so this is the last resort.
MethodInfo parse = t.GetMethod("Parse", new Type[] { typeof(string) });
if (parse != null)
{
object parsed = parse.Invoke(null, new object[] { value.ToString() });
return (T)parsed;
}
else
{
throw new InvalidOperationException("The value you specified is not a valid " + typeof(T).ToString());
}
The problem comes when I want to to convert to a nullable type like long?.
Obviously, the long? class does not have a parse method.
How do I extract the parse method from the nullable's template type?
EDIT:
Here is a short battery of tests I'm trying to pass:
[Test]
public void ConverterTNullable()
{
Assert.That((int?)1, Is.EqualTo(Converter<int?>.Convert(1)));
Assert.That((int?)2, Is.EqualTo(Converter<int?>.Convert(2.0d)));
Assert.That(3, Is.EqualTo(Converter<long>.Convert(3)));
Assert.That((object)null, Is.EqualTo(Converter<long?>.Convert("")));
Assert.That((object)null, Is.EqualTo(Converter<long?>.Convert(null)));
Assert.That((object)null, Is.EqualTo(Converter<long?>.Convert(DBNull.Value)));
Assert.That((long)1, Is.EqualTo(Converter<long?>.Convert("1")));
Assert.That((long)2, Is.EqualTo(Converter<long?>.Convert(2.0)));
Assert.That((long?)3, Is.EqualTo(Converter<long>.Convert(3)));
}
And the whole function:
/// <summary>
/// Converts any compatible object to an instance of T.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="value">The value to convert.</param>
/// <returns>The converted value.</returns>
public static T Convert(object value)
{
if (value is T)
{
return (T)value;
}
Type t = typeof(T);
if (t == typeof(string))
{
if (value is DBNull || value == null)
{
return (T)(object)null;
}
else
{
return (T)(object)(value.ToString());
}
}
else
{
if (value is DBNull || value == null)
{
return default(T);
}
if (value is string && string.IsNullOrEmpty((string)value))
{
return default(T);
}
try
{
return (T)value;
}
catch (InvalidCastException)
{
}
if (Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(t) != null)
{
t = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(t);
}
MethodInfo parse = t.GetMethod("Parse", new Type[] { typeof(string) });
if (parse != null)
{
object parsed = parse.Invoke(null, new object[] { value.ToString() });
return (T)parsed;
}
else
{
throw new InvalidOperationException("The value you specified is not a valid " + typeof(T).ToString());
}
}
}
Solution 3
I added this little bit:
if (Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(t) != null)
{
t = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(t);
}
MethodInfo parse = t.GetMethod("Parse", new Type[] { typeof(string) });
Thanks everyone!
OTHER TIPS
I would probably use the TypeConverter
in this case, and ; example on the way...Nullable.GetUnderlyingType()
static void Main()
{
long? val1 = Parse<long?>("123");
long? val2 = Parse<long?>(null);
}
static T Parse<T>(string value)
{
return (T) TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(typeof(T))
.ConvertFrom(value);
}
This should to the job. (Code is embedded in an extension method for simplicity, though it may not be what you want.)
public static T? ParseToNullable<T>(this string value) where T : struct
{
var parseMethod = typeof(T).GetMethod("Parse", new Type[] { typeof(string) });
if (parseMethod == null)
return new Nullable<T>();
try
{
var value = parseMethod.Invoke(null, new object[] { value.ToString() });
return new Nullable<T>((T)value);
}
catch
{
return new Nullable<T>();
}
}
Now, if you want the generic type paramter itself to be the nullable type rather than the underlying one (I don't really see an advantage in this), you can make use of:
Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(typeof(T))
as Marc Gravell suggested, and it would only require a few minor modifications to the code.