What is the best way to get a single value out of a dataset?

Question

I have a dataset that should have only one value in it, what is the best way to get that single value out and into an integer?

Answer 1

SqlCommand.ExecuteScalar

// setup sql command and sql connection etc first...
int count = (int) cmd.ExecuteScalar();

Answer 2

See a new feature of C# 3.0 'Extension Methods' You can define your own extension method for any class. For example:

namespace MyEx;

public static class MyExtensions
{
    public static object SingleValue(this DataSet ds)
    {
        return ds.Tables[0].Rows[0][0];
    }
}

After you can use it:

using MyEx;

public class Class1
{
    public void Test()
    {
        DataSet ds = new DataSet();
        object value = ds.SingleValue();
    }
}