Data conversion

Implicit Conversion

Conversions that can be performed by simply assigning the value
The types involved are compatible

float value = 25.8f;
int other = 25;

value = other; // We can put an int value inside a float
other = value; // NOT ALLOWED, a floating-point value does not fit in an integer

Implicit conversion table

Type	Can receive from
sbyte	short, int, long, float, double, decimal
byte	short, ushort, int, uint, long, ulong, float, double, decimal
short	int, long, float, double, decimal
ushort	int, uint, long, ulong, float, double, decimal
int	long, float, double, decimal
uint	long, ulong, float, double, decimal
long	float, double, decimal
ulong	float, double, decimal
char	ushort, int, uint, long, ulong, float, double, decimal
float	double

Explicit Conversion

Happens when the types are not compatible
Done by writing the target type in parentheses before the assignment

int integer = 100;
uint unsignedInteger = (uint)integer;

Using Parse

A method available on all primitive types
Used to convert a character or string to another type
Throws an error if the value is incompatible

int integer = int.Parse("100");

Using Convert

Similar to Parse
It is a class called Convert that covers all primitive types
Can convert many kinds of values, not only strings
The target type must always be stated in the call
It is more accurate when converting from floating point to integer

int integer = Convert.ToInt32("100");

Using ToString

All primitive types have the ToString() method
Used to turn a value into a string in our project

int integer = 3;
string value = integer.ToString(); // "3"

Using TryParse()

The TryParse() method does several things at once:

It tries to parse a string into the given numeric type.
If the conversion succeeds, the converted value is stored in an output parameter, explained in the next section.
It returns a bool indicating whether the operation succeeded or failed.

Methods can return a value or return “null”, meaning they return no value. Methods can also return values through out parameters, which are defined like an input parameter but include the out keyword.

string value = "102";
int result = 0;
if (int.TryParse(value, out result)) // out tells where the value goes
{
  Console.WriteLine($"Measurement: {result}");
}
else
{
     Console.WriteLine("Unable to report the measurement.");
}