Difference between type castings?

[Benny Raymond]

I'm starting to see a lot of
"somevar as sometype"

Just cause i'm curious, what's the difference between that and

(sometype) somevar

?

[Tim Wilson]

The "as" operator is generally a safer way of performing type conversion.
From the help...

"The as operator is like a cast except that it yields null on conversion
failure instead of raising an exception."

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...ml/vclrfas.asp

--
Tim Wilson
..NET Compact Framework MVP

"Benny Raymond" <be***@pocketrocks.com> wrote in message
news:eL****************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

I'm starting to see a lot of
"somevar as sometype"

Just cause i'm curious, what's the difference between that and

(sometype) somevar

?

[Truong Hong Thi]

Hi Benny,

x = somevar as sometype
is equivalent to:
if somevar is sometype
x = (sometype) somevar;
else
x = null;

Thus, "somevar as sometype" never raises an InvalidCastException. If
the cast is illegal, null is returned instead.

Thi - http://thith.blogspot.com

[Lenard Gunda]

Hi,

I would also like to add, that the "as" casting is not supported on
value types. For value types, you must always use the (cast) casting.

-Lenard

Truong Hong Thi wrote:

Hi Benny,

x = somevar as sometype
is equivalent to:
if somevar is sometype
x = (sometype) somevar;
else
x = null;

Thus, "somevar as sometype" never raises an InvalidCastException. If
the cast is illegal, null is returned instead.

Thi - http://thith.blogspot.com

[Simon]

Hi Tim,

I'm not taking issue with you here, just wanted to get more info.

You say that "as" is generally safer. I'm thinking its not as you now
don't know if the cast is invalid. Only safer if you don't need to know??

Thoughts?

Simon

Tim Wilson wrote:

The "as" operator is generally a safer way of performing type conversion.
From the help...

"The as operator is like a cast except that it yields null on conversion
failure instead of raising an exception."

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...ml/vclrfas.asp

[Lenard Gunda]

Sure you do know if it is invalid. If returns a null reference if it is
not valid.

When you are getting out objects from a non-typed DataRow for example or
other typeless container, it is easier to use "as" than to put every
member access into a try block. Of course you can do that - I guess it
is also personal preference, which one you use.

-Lenard
Simon wrote:

Hi Tim,

I'm not taking issue with you here, just wanted to get more info.

You say that "as" is generally safer. I'm thinking its not as you now
don't know if the cast is invalid. Only safer if you don't need to know??

Thoughts?

Simon

Tim Wilson wrote:

The "as" operator is generally a safer way of performing type conversion.
From the help...

"The as operator is like a cast except that it yields null on conversion
failure instead of raising an exception."

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...ml/vclrfas.asp

[Simon]

Sorry, I shoudl have explained better. What if NULL IS the value. Do you
see what I mean?

Lenard Gunda wrote:

Sure you do know if it is invalid. If returns a null reference if it is
not valid.

When you are getting out objects from a non-typed DataRow for example or
other typeless container, it is easier to use "as" than to put every
member access into a try block. Of course you can do that - I guess it
is also personal preference, which one you use.

-Lenard
Simon wrote:

Hi Tim,

I'm not taking issue with you here, just wanted to get more info.

You say that "as" is generally safer. I'm thinking its not as you now
don't know if the cast is invalid. Only safer if you don't need to know??

Thoughts?

Simon

Tim Wilson wrote:

The "as" operator is generally a safer way of performing type
conversion.
From the help...

"The as operator is like a cast except that it yields null on conversion
failure instead of raising an exception."

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...ml/vclrfas.asp

[Lenard Gunda]

Hi,

If you have a null value, you can cast that to anything you like. If
will not be an error. I don't think this would be a problem.

-Lenard

Simon wrote:

Sorry, I shoudl have explained better. What if NULL IS the value. Do you
see what I mean?

Lenard Gunda wrote:

Sure you do know if it is invalid. If returns a null reference if it
is not valid.

When you are getting out objects from a non-typed DataRow for example
or other typeless container, it is easier to use "as" than to put
every member access into a try block. Of course you can do that - I
guess it is also personal preference, which one you use.

-Lenard
Simon wrote:

Hi Tim,

I'm not taking issue with you here, just wanted to get more info.

You say that "as" is generally safer. I'm thinking its not as you now
don't know if the cast is invalid. Only safer if you don't need to
know??

Thoughts?

Simon

Tim Wilson wrote:

The "as" operator is generally a safer way of performing type
conversion.
From the help...

"The as operator is like a cast except that it yields null on
conversion
failure instead of raising an exception."

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...ml/vclrfas.asp

[Simon]

Sorry I'll engage the brain first next time. Yup I get ya.

Cheers

Simon

Lenard Gunda wrote:

Hi,

If you have a null value, you can cast that to anything you like. If
will not be an error. I don't think this would be a problem.

-Lenard

Simon wrote:

Sorry, I shoudl have explained better. What if NULL IS the value. Do
you see what I mean?

Lenard Gunda wrote:

Sure you do know if it is invalid. If returns a null reference if it
is not valid.

When you are getting out objects from a non-typed DataRow for example
or other typeless container, it is easier to use "as" than to put
every member access into a try block. Of course you can do that - I
guess it is also personal preference, which one you use.

-Lenard
Simon wrote:

Hi Tim,

I'm not taking issue with you here, just wanted to get more info.

You say that "as" is generally safer. I'm thinking its not as you
now don't know if the cast is invalid. Only safer if you don't need
to know??

Thoughts?

Simon

Tim Wilson wrote:

> The "as" operator is generally a safer way of performing type
> conversion.
> From the help...
>
> "The as operator is like a cast except that it yields null on
> conversion
> failure instead of raising an exception."
>
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...ml/vclrfas.asp
>
>