Read boolean values from DB?

Question

In C#, using SqlDataReader, is there a way to read a boolean value from the DB?

while (reader.Read())
{
    destPath = reader[\"destination_path\"].ToString(         


        

Answer 1

How about this?

deleteExisting = (reader["delete_existing"] as int?) == 1;

Boolean is probably the easist type to convert something to. Here's the 'Y', 'N' version:

deleteExisting = string.Equals(reader["delete_existing"] as string, "Y", StringComparision.OrdinalIgnoreCase);

Answer 2

If you are using CASE in SELECT and want to use GetBoolean then use CAST to change the column to bit before reading.

For eg:

SELECT CAST((CASE WHEN [Condition] THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) as bit) FROM Table_Name

then you can use

reader.GetBoolean(0)

Answer 3

If the type of delete_existing is a sqlserver 'bit' type, you can do :

var i = reader.GetOrdinal("delete_existing"); // Get the field position
deleteExisting = reader.GetBoolean(i);

or (but it will crash if delete_existing can be DBNull)

deleteExisting = (bool)reader["delete_existing"];

or better, this onebelow is DBNull proof and returns false if the column is DBNull

deleteExisting = reader["delete_existing"] as bool? ?? false;

Otherwise if the database type is int :

deleteExisting = (reader["delete_existing"] as int? == 1) ? true : false;

or if it is a varchar

deleteExisting = (reader["delete_existing"] as string == "1") ? true : false;

Answer 4

deleteExisting = reader.GetBoolean(reader["delete_existing"]);

Answer 5

Casting works: myVar = (bool)dataReader["myColumn"];