How do I safely convert a bool into a string?

Question

I've to convert an object to string only if the object is a boolean.

I've done in this manner:

public object Convert(object oldType)
{
    bool value;
    if (oldType is bool)
    {
        value = (bool)oldType;
        if (value)
            return "1";
        else
            return "0";
    }

Is it safe?

quicker way to return the value would be `return value?"1":"0";` — csharpwinphonexaml, May 09 '14 at 16:23
@verdesrobert it would still need to be cast though. `return (bool)value ? "1" : "0";` — Nathan A, May 09 '14 at 16:24
Is there something wrong with [`Convert.ToBoolean()`](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.convert.toboolean.aspx) or [`bool.TryParse()`](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.boolean.tryparse.aspx)? — qJake, May 09 '14 at 16:25
If you want to convert to string, maybe you should consider a method that returns string. — qqbenq, May 09 '14 at 16:27
Because this question is nearly entirely opinion based and subjected to requirements not included in the question, I am recommending that this question be closed. Some folks may agree that this is OK, given certain circumstances and guarantees about the input, while others may say that it's a really poor idea and discussion about that is likely to result in non-constructive debate rather than fact based determinations and clear answers to your question. — Michael J. Gray, May 09 '14 at 16:27
Way too mainstream, SpikeX. @M4tt3, you could check if it is a bool using typeof() like typeof(oldType) == typeof(bool); — Mikael Dúi Bolinder, May 09 '14 at 16:29
@NathanA I was only referring to the return not to the whole thing — csharpwinphonexaml, May 09 '14 at 16:30
I don't see how this is opinion based or unclear. It seems fairly straightforward what he wants to accomplish. If an object is a Boolean, then return a string representation of the Boolean. Is that really that hard to understand? — mason, May 09 '14 at 16:31
The is operator would probably be better than typeof just for readability, although typeof might be faster http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184681/is-vs-typeof — Shattuck, May 09 '14 at 16:33
`typeof` doesn't work on variable names it only work with types — csharpwinphonexaml, May 09 '14 at 16:36
@Spike The OP doesn't want to convert to a bool. He wants to take an object that may be bool at runtime and output a string representation of it if it is. I'm assuming that the method should just pass the original object through if it's not a bool. — Andrew Cooper, May 09 '14 at 16:36
@verdesrobert, no, I wasnt. Apparently my code is uncompilable since I should have written oldType.GetType(). — Mikael Dúi Bolinder, May 09 '14 at 16:52

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered May 09 '14 at 16:29

5

You can simplify without the temporary variable:

public object Convert(object value)
{
    if (value is bool)
    {
        return (bool)value ? "1" : "0";
    }
    return value;
}

answered May 09 '14 at 16:29

Andrew Cooper

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How do I safely convert a bool into a string?

1 Answers1