Shortest way to check for null and assign another value if not

Question

I am pulling varchar values out of a DB and want to set the string I am assigning them to as \"\" if they are null. I\'m currently doi

Answer 1

Use the C# coalesce operator: ??

// if Value is not null, newValue = Value else if Value is null newValue is YournullValue
var newValue = Value ?? YourNullReplacement;

Answer 2

Try this:

this.approved_by = IsNullOrEmpty(planRec.approved_by) ? "" : planRec.approved_by.toString();

You can also use the null-coalescing operator as other have said - since no one has given an example that works with your code here is one:

this.approved_by = planRec.approved_by ?? planRec.approved_by.toString();

But this example only works since a possible value for this.approved_by is the same as one of the potential values that you wish to set it to. For all other cases you will need to use the conditional operator as I showed in my first example.

Answer 3

You can also do it in your query, for instance in sql server, google ISNULL and CASE built-in functions.

Answer 4

The coalesce operator (??) is what you want, I believe.

Answer 5

With C#6 there is a slightly shorter way for the case where planRec.approved_by is not a string:

this.approved_by = planRec.approved_by?.ToString() ?? "";