C#: Dynamic parse from System.Type

Question

I have a Type, a String and an Object.

Is there some way I can call the parse method or convert for that type on the string dynamically?

Basically how do I remove the if statements in this logic

object value = new object();     String myString = "something"; Type propType = p.PropertyType;  if(propType == Type.GetType("DateTime")) {     value = DateTime.Parse(myString); }  if (propType == Type.GetType("int")) {     value = int.Parse(myString); } 

And do someting more like this.

object value = new object(); String myString = "something"; Type propType = p.PropertyType;   //this doesn't actually work value = propType .Parse(myString);   

Answer 1

TypeDescriptor to the rescue!:

var converter = TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(propType); var result = converter.ConvertFrom(myString); 

All primitive types (plus Nullable<TPrimitive>, and numerous other built-in types) are integrated into the TypeConverter infrastructure already, and are thus supported 'out-of-the-box'.

To integrate a custom type into the TypeConverter infrastructure, implement your own TypeConverter and use TypeConverterAttribute to decorate the class to be converted, with your new TypeConverter

Answer 2

This should work for all primitive types, and for types that implement IConvertible

public static T ConvertTo<T>(object value) {     return (T)Convert.ChangeType(value, typeof(T)); } 

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EDIT : actually in your case, you can't use generics (not easily at least). Instead you could do that :

object value = Convert.ChangeType(myString, propType);