Convert a text fraction to a decimal

Question

Similar to this question just in C# instead of JavaScript. I couldn't find anything for C# while searching

I have a text box that will take a quantity, which is later stored as a double in a database. However it is possible that some quantities will be entered as string fractions e.g 1/2 for 0.5. I want to be able to convert these to decimal before storing them to the database (being able to also convert back would be nice but not necessary). I want to be able to handle both fractions and mixed numbers e.g. 2 1/2 is saved as 2.5

Anybody know a way of doing this?

Answer 1

Try splitting it on the space and slash, something like:

double FractionToDouble(string fraction) {
    double result;

    if(double.TryParse(fraction, out result)) {
        return result;
    }

    string[] split = fraction.Split(new char[] { ' ', '/' });

    if(split.Length == 2 || split.Length == 3) {
        int a, b;

        if(int.TryParse(split[0], out a) && int.TryParse(split[1], out b)) {
            if(split.Length == 2) {
                return (double)a / b;
            }

            int c;

            if(int.TryParse(split[2], out c)) {
                return a + (double)b / c;
            }
        }
    }

    throw new FormatException("Not a valid fraction.");
}

Hey, it worked! Remember to check for a division by zero, too. You'll get Infinity, -Infinity, or NaN as a result.

Answer 2

And here is yet one more solution, but with a bit more seamless an integration:

public class FractionalNumber
{
    public Double Result
    {
        get { return this.result; }
        private set { this.result = value; }
    }
    private Double result;

    public FractionalNumber(String input)
    {
        this.Result = this.Parse(input);
    }

    private Double Parse(String input)
    {
        input = (input ?? String.Empty).Trim();
        if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(input))
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("input");
        }

        // standard decimal number (e.g. 1.125)
        if (input.IndexOf('.') != -1 || (input.IndexOf(' ') == -1 && input.IndexOf('/') == -1 && input.IndexOf('\\') == -1))
        {
            Double result;
            if (Double.TryParse(input, out result))
            {
                return result;
            }
        }

        String[] parts = input.Split(new[] { ' ', '/', '\\' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);

        // stand-off fractional (e.g. 7/8)
        if (input.IndexOf(' ') == -1 && parts.Length == 2)
        {
            Double num, den;
            if (Double.TryParse(parts[0], out num) && Double.TryParse(parts[1], out den))
            {
                return num / den;
            }
        }

        // Number and fraction (e.g. 2 1/2)
        if (parts.Length == 3)
        {
            Double whole, num, den;
            if (Double.TryParse(parts[0], out whole) && Double.TryParse(parts[1], out num) && Double.TryParse(parts[2], out den))
            {
                return whole + (num / den);
            }
        }

        // Bogus / unable to parse
        return Double.NaN;
    }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        return this.Result.ToString();
    }

    public static implicit operator Double(FractionalNumber number)
    {
        return number.Result;
    }
}

And because it implements the implicit operator, it can be used simply by:

Double number = new FractionalNumber("3 1/2");

Anything that can't be parsed returns the Double constant Double.NaN. Without getting in to a laundry list of possible inputs, this worked with some basics. Feel free to tweak the class to fit your needs.