What is the difference between Convert and Parse?

Question

I could write the following to convert an object to an integer.

Convert.ToInt32(myObject);

But I could also write

Int.Parse(myObject.ToString());

• Is there any difference?
• Which one should I be using?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

• Is there any difference?

Yes, Int32.parse(myObject.ToString()); takes a detour to string, that will usually work but it is unnecessary and it might fail or give a different result.

• Which one should I be using?

In general, Convert.ToInt32(myObject);

But it depends on what type of data you want to convert.

If myObject = '1'; , do you want 1 or 49 ?

If myObject = false; , do you want 0 or an exception ?

etc

Answer 2

This how Convert.ToInt32 method source looks like

public static int ToInt32(object value) {
    return value == null? 0: ((IConvertible)value).ToInt32(null); 
}

As long as your object implement IConvertible interface you should call this method.