Handling ExecuteScalar() when no results are returned

Question

I am using the following SQL query and the ExecuteScalar() method to fetch data from an Oracle database:

sql = \"select username from usermst wh         


        

Answer 1

This is the easiest way to do this...

sql = "select username from usermst where userid=2"
object getusername = command.ExecuteScalar();
if (getusername!=null)
{
    //do whatever with the value here
    //use getusername.toString() to get the value from the query
}

Answer 2

I used this in my vb code for the return value of a function:

If obj <> Nothing Then Return obj.ToString() Else Return "" End If

Answer 3

SQL NULL value

• equivalent in C# is DBNull.Value
• if a NULLABLE column has no value, this is what is returned
• comparison in SQL: IF ( value IS NULL )
• comparison in C#: if (obj == DBNull.Value)
• visually represented in C# Quick-Watch as {}

Best practice when reading from a data reader:

var reader = cmd.ExecuteReader();
...
var result = (reader[i] == DBNull.Value ? "" : reader[i].ToString());

In my experience, there are some cases the returned value can be missing and thus execution fails by returning null. An example would be

select MAX(ID) from <table name> where <impossible condition>

The above script cannot find anything to find a MAX in. So it fails. In these such cases we must compare the old fashion way (compare with C# null)

var obj = cmd.ExecuteScalar();
var result = (obj == null ? -1 : Convert.ToInt32(obj));

Answer 4

If you either want the string or an empty string in case something is null, without anything can break:

using (var cmd = new OdbcCommand(cmdText, connection))
{
    var result = string.Empty;
    var scalar = cmd.ExecuteScalar();
    if (scalar != DBNull.Value) // Case where the DB value is null
    {
        result = Convert.ToString(scalar); // Case where the query doesn't return any rows. 
        // Note: Convert.ToString() returns an empty string if the object is null. 
        //       It doesn't break, like scalar.ToString() would have.
    }
    return result;
}

Answer 5

/* Select some int which does not exist */
int x = ((int)(SQL_Cmd.ExecuteScalar() ?? 0));

Answer 6

The following line:

string getusername = command.ExecuteScalar();

... will try to implicitly convert the result to string, like below:

string getusername = (string)command.ExecuteScalar();

The regular casting operator will fail if the object is null. Try using the as-operator, like this:

string getusername = command.ExecuteScalar() as string;