TryParse to a nullable type
Question
I would like to try to parse a string
as a DateTime?
, and if it fails then set the value to null
. The only way I can think to do this is the following, but it doesn't seem very neat.
DateTime temp;
DateTime? whatIActuallyWant = null;
if (DateTime.TryParse(txtDate.Text, out temp)) whatIActuallyWant = temp;
Is this the only way?
Solution
How about this:
DateTime? whatIActuallyWant = DateTime.TryParse(txtDate.Text, out temp) ? (DateTime?)temp : null;
You get a one-liner out of this (unfortunately need the DateTime?
cast otherwise won't compile) - but personally I would probably stick to the null
initialization and the subsequent if
- it's just easier to read.
OTHER TIPS
If your going to be performing this operation more than once then I recommend adding a simple extension method for ease of use...
public static class Extensions
{
public static DateTime? ToDateTime(this string val)
{
DateTime temp;
if (DateTime.TryParse(val, out temp))
return temp;
else
return null;
}
}
Which you can then use very easily...
DateTime? ret1 = "01/01/2011".ToDateTime();
DateTime? ret2 = myString.ToDateTime();
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