What native dotNet data type is most appropriate for conveying SQL Server hierarchyId values?

Question

Specifically we have a SQL Server stored procedure that accepts a hierarchyId as a parameter, and typically we have a SOAP layer on our stored procs that allows them to be called via SOAP.

The SOAP services are implemented using the [WebMethod] attribute on C# methods, and these methods are defined using native dotNet types that typically map well to SQL server types.

At this time I am not sure what data type to use in the C# WebMethod to accept a hierarchyId. Perhaps I should use a hierarchy path string of the form '/1/2/3' and a function to parse this into a SqlHierarchyId that can be passed to a stored procedure.

Answer 1

Use a string and parse it using SqlHierarchyId.Parse()