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

Here is helper class which others can use if they need based on @marc_s answer:

public static class SQLDataReaderExtensions
    {
        public static int SafeGetInt(this SqlDataReader dataReader, string fieldName)
        {
            int fieldIndex = dataReader.GetOrdinal(fieldName);
            return dataReader.IsDBNull(fieldIndex) ? 0 : dataReader.GetInt32(fieldIndex);
        }

        public static int? SafeGetNullableInt(this SqlDataReader dataReader, string fieldName)
        {
            int fieldIndex = dataReader.GetOrdinal(fieldName);
            return dataReader.GetValue(fieldIndex) as int?;
        }

        public static string SafeGetString(this SqlDataReader dataReader, string fieldName)
        {
            int fieldIndex = dataReader.GetOrdinal(fieldName);
            return dataReader.IsDBNull(fieldIndex) ? string.Empty : dataReader.GetString(fieldIndex);
        }

        public static DateTime? SafeGetNullableDateTime(this SqlDataReader dataReader, string fieldName)
        {
            int fieldIndex = dataReader.GetOrdinal(fieldName);
            return dataReader.GetValue(fieldIndex) as DateTime?;
        }

        public static bool SafeGetBoolean(this SqlDataReader dataReader, string fieldName)
        {
            return SafeGetBoolean(dataReader, fieldName, false);
        }

        public static bool SafeGetBoolean(this SqlDataReader dataReader, string fieldName, bool defaultValue)
        {
            int fieldIndex = dataReader.GetOrdinal(fieldName);
            return dataReader.IsDBNull(fieldIndex) ? defaultValue : dataReader.GetBoolean(fieldIndex);
        }
    }

Answer 2

For a string you can simply cast the object version (accessed using the array operator) and wind up with a null string for nulls:

employee.FirstName = (string)sqlreader[indexFirstName];

or

employee.FirstName = sqlreader[indexFirstName] as string;

For integers, if you cast to a nullable int, you can use GetValueOrDefault()

employee.Age = (sqlreader[indexAge] as int?).GetValueOrDefault();

or the null-coalescing operator (??).

employee.Age = (sqlreader[indexAge] as int?) ?? 0;

Answer 3

Old question but maybe someone still need an answer

in real i worked around this issue like that

For int :

public static object GatDataInt(string Query, string Column)
    {
        SqlConnection DBConn = new SqlConnection(ConnectionString);
        if (DBConn.State == ConnectionState.Closed)
            DBConn.Open();
        SqlCommand CMD = new SqlCommand(Query, DBConn);
        SqlDataReader RDR = CMD.ExecuteReader();
        if (RDR.Read())
        {
            var Result = RDR[Column];
            RDR.Close();
            DBConn.Close();
            return Result;
        }
        return 0;
    }

the same for string just return "" instead of 0 as "" is empty string

so you can use it like

int TotalPoints = GatDataInt(QueryToGetTotalPoints, TotalPointColumn) as int?;

and

string Email = GatDatastring(QueryToGetEmail, EmailColumn) as string;

very flexible so you can insert any query to read any column and it'll never return with error