SQL Data Reader - handling Null column values

Question

I\'m using a SQLdatareader to build POCOs from a database. The code works except when it encounters a null value in the database. For example, if the FirstName column in the

Answer 1

This Solution is less vendor-dependent and works with an SQL, OleDB, and MySQL Reader:

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, int colIndex)
{
    return GetStringSafe(reader, colIndex, string.Empty);
}

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, int colIndex, string defaultValue)
{
    if (!reader.IsDBNull(colIndex))
        return reader.GetString(colIndex);
    else
        return defaultValue;
}

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, string indexName)
{
    return GetStringSafe(reader, reader.GetOrdinal(indexName));
}

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, string indexName, string defaultValue)
{
    return GetStringSafe(reader, reader.GetOrdinal(indexName), defaultValue);
}

Answer 2

What I tend to do is replace the null values in the SELECT statement with something appropriate.

SELECT ISNULL(firstname, '') FROM people

Here I replace every null with a blank string. Your code won't throw in error in that case.

Answer 3

This method is dependent on indexFirstName which should be the zero-based column ordinal.

if(!sqlReader.IsDBNull(indexFirstName))
{
  employee.FirstName = sqlreader.GetString(indexFirstName);
}

If you don't know the column index but wan't to check a name you can use this extension method instead:

public static class DataRecordExtensions
{
    public static bool HasColumn(this IDataRecord dr, string columnName)
    {
        for (int i=0; i < dr.FieldCount; i++)
        {
            if (dr.GetName(i).Equals(columnName, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase))
                return true;
        }
        return false;
    }
}

And use the method like this:

if(sqlReader.HasColumn("FirstName"))
{
  employee.FirstName = sqlreader["FirstName"];
}

Answer 4

You need to check for IsDBNull:

if(!SqlReader.IsDBNull(indexFirstName))
{
  employee.FirstName = sqlreader.GetString(indexFirstName);
}

That's your only reliable way to detect and handle this situation.

I wrapped those things into extension methods and tend to return a default value if the column is indeed null:

public static string SafeGetString(this SqlDataReader reader, int colIndex)
{
   if(!reader.IsDBNull(colIndex))
       return reader.GetString(colIndex);
   return string.Empty;
}

Now you can call it like this:

employee.FirstName = SqlReader.SafeGetString(indexFirstName);

and you'll never have to worry about an exception or a null value again.

Answer 5

private static void Render(IList<ListData> list, IDataReader reader)
        {
            while (reader.Read())
            {

                listData.DownUrl = (reader.GetSchemaTable().Columns["DownUrl"] != null) ? Convert.ToString(reader["DownUrl"]) : null;
                //没有这一列时，让其等于null
                list.Add(listData);
            }
            reader.Close();
        }

Answer 6

Check sqlreader.IsDBNull(indexFirstName) before you try to read it.