Can't cast int to bool

Question

I'm facing the problem that C# in my case can't cast the number 1 to bool. In my scenario (bool)intValue doesn't work. I get an InvalidCastException. I know I can use Convert.ToBoolean(...) but I'm just wondering it doesn't work. Any explanation for this?

My code is

if (actualValueType.Name == "Boolean" || setValueType.Name == "Boolean") {    if ((bool)actualValue != (bool)setValue)    ... } 

Answer 1

There's no need to cast:

bool result = intValue == 1; 

From the docs:

The inclusion of bool makes it easier to write self-documenting code

a bool value is either true or false

1.2.1 Predefined Types (C#)

Answer 2

int and bool can't be converted implicitly (in contrast to C++, for example).

It was a concious decision made by language designers in order to save code from errors when a number was used in a condition. Conditions need to take a boolean value explicitly.

It is not possible to write:

int foo = 10;  if(foo) {   // Do something } 

Imagine if the developer wanted to compare foo with 20 but missed one equality sign:

if(foo = 20) {   // Do something } 

The above code will compile and work - and the side-effects may not be very obvious.

Similar improvements were done to switch: you cannot fall from one case to the other - you need an explicit break or return.