Cast session variable to bool

Question

Why can't I do this?

if ((bool)Request["genericError"] != true)
   {
       return;
   }

Compiler gives me:

Cannot convert type 'string' to 'bool'

Request["genericError"] should be an object, so why does the compiler think its a string?

I'm looking for the reason for this, not how to sidestep it (using Convert)

Answer 1

What makes you think that Request["genericError"] should be an object?

Assuming Request is an HttpRequest (as I suspect), the indexer is of type string.

Answer 2

Because it is a string. Try:

if ( bool.parse (Request["genericError"] ) != true)  return;

Better yet,

use `bool.TryParse' etc ...