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Convert::ChangeType Method (Object^, Type^, IFormatProvider^)

.NET Framework (current version)

Other Versions

Returns an object of the specified type whose value is equivalent to the specified object. A parameter supplies culture-specific formatting information.

Namespace: System
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

C++

public:
static Object^ ChangeType(
	Object^ value,
	Type^ conversionType,
	IFormatProvider^ provider
)

Parameters

value: Type: System::Object^
An object that implements the IConvertible interface.

conversionType: Type: System::Type^
The type of object to return.

provider: Type: System::IFormatProvider^
An object that supplies culture-specific formatting information.

Return Value

Type: System::Object^

An object whose type is conversionType and whose value is equivalent to value.

-or-

value, if the Type of value and conversionType are equal.

-or-

A null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic), if value is null and conversionType is not a value type.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
InvalidCastException	This conversion is not supported. -or- value is null and conversionType is a value type. -or- value does not implement the IConvertible interface.
FormatException	value is not in a format for conversionType recognized by provider.
OverflowException	value represents a number that is out of the range of conversionType.
ArgumentNullException	conversionType is null.

ChangeType is a general-purpose conversion method that converts the object specified by value to conversionType. The value parameter can be an object of any type, and conversionType can also be a Type object that represents any base or custom type. For the conversion to succeed, value must implement the IConvertible interface, because the method simply wraps a call to an appropriate IConvertible method. The method requires that conversion of value to conversionType be supported.

The provider parameter is an IFormatProvider implementation that supplies formatting information for the conversion. Whether and how this parameter is used depends on the underlying IConvertible implementation. If value is a base data type, provider is used only for the following conversions:

Conversion from a number to a string, or from a string to a number. provider must be a CultureInfo object, a NumberFormatInfo object, or a custom IFormatProvider implementation that returns a NumberFormatInfo object. However, because the ChangeType(Object^, TypeCode, IFormatProvider^) method performs the conversion using the default "G" format specifier, the provider parameter has no effect if value or the target type is an unsigned integer. If provider is null, the CultureInfo object that represents the current thread culture is used.
Conversion from a DateTime value to a string, or from a string to a DateTime value. provider must be a CultureInfo or DateTimeFormatInfo object. If provider is null, the CultureInfo object that represents the current thread culture is used.

If value is an application-defined type, its IConvertible implementation may use the provider parameter.

Notes to Callers:

The ChangeType(Object^, Type^, IFormatProvider^) method can convert an enumeration value to another type. However, it cannot convert another type to an enumeration value, even if the source type is the underlying type of the enumeration. To convert a type to an enumeration value, use a casting operator (in C#) or a conversion function (in Visual Basic). The following example illustrates the conversion to and from a Continent enumeration value.

C++

No code example is currently available or this language may not be supported.

The Convert::ChangeType(Object^, Type^, IFormatProvider^) method can convert a nullable type to another type. However, it cannot convert another type to a value of a nullable type, even if conversionType is the underlying type of the Nullable<T>. To perform the conversion, you can use a casting operator (in C#) or a conversion function (in Visual Basic). The following example illustrates the conversion to and from a nullable type.

C++

No code example is currently available or this language may not be supported.

Examples

The following example defines a Temperature class that implements the IConvertible interface.

C++

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Globalization;

public ref class Temperature : IConvertible
{
private:
   Decimal m_Temp;

public:
   Temperature(Decimal temperature)
   {
      m_Temp = temperature;
   }

   property Decimal Celsius {
      Decimal get() { return m_Temp; }
   }

   property Decimal Kelvin {
      Decimal get() { return m_Temp + (Decimal) 273.15; }
   }

   property Decimal Fahrenheit {
      Decimal get() { return Math::Round((Decimal) (m_Temp * 9 / 5 + 32), 2); }
   }

   virtual String^ ToString()
   override {
      return m_Temp.ToString("N2") + "�C";
   }

   // IConvertible implementations.
   virtual TypeCode GetTypeCode()
   {
      return TypeCode::Object;
   }

   virtual bool ToBoolean(IFormatProvider^ provider) 
   {
      if (m_Temp == 0)
         return false;
      else
         return true;
   } 

   virtual Byte ToByte(IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      if (m_Temp < Byte::MinValue || m_Temp > Byte::MaxValue)
         throw gcnew OverflowException(String::Format("{0} is out of range of the Byte type.", 
                                                   m_Temp));
      else
         return Decimal::ToByte(m_Temp);
   }

   virtual Char ToChar(IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      throw gcnew InvalidCastException("Temperature to Char conversion is not supported.");
   } 

   virtual DateTime ToDateTime(IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      throw gcnew InvalidCastException("Temperature to DateTime conversion is not supported.");
   }

   virtual Decimal ToDecimal(IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      return m_Temp;
   }

   virtual Double ToDouble(IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      return Decimal::ToDouble(m_Temp);
   }   

   virtual Int16 ToInt16(IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      if (m_Temp < Int16::MinValue || m_Temp > Int16::MaxValue)
         throw gcnew OverflowException(String::Format("{0} is out of range of the Int16 type.",
                                                   m_Temp));
      else
         return Decimal::ToInt16(m_Temp);
   }

   virtual Int32 ToInt32(IFormatProvider^ provider)
      {
      if (m_Temp < Int32::MinValue || m_Temp > Int32::MaxValue)
         throw gcnew OverflowException(String::Format("{0} is out of range of the Int32 type.",
                                                   m_Temp));
      else
         return Decimal::ToInt32(m_Temp);
   }

   virtual Int64 ToInt64(IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      if (m_Temp < Int64::MinValue || m_Temp > Int64::MaxValue)
         throw gcnew OverflowException(String::Format("{0} is out of range of the Int64 type.",
                                                   m_Temp));
      else
         return Decimal::ToInt64(m_Temp);
   }

   virtual SByte ToSByte(IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      if (m_Temp < SByte::MinValue || m_Temp > SByte::MaxValue)
         throw gcnew OverflowException(String::Format("{0} is out of range of the SByte type.",
                                                   m_Temp));
      else
         return Decimal::ToSByte(m_Temp);
   }

   virtual Single ToSingle(IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      return Decimal::ToSingle(m_Temp);
   }

   virtual String^ ToString(IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      return m_Temp.ToString("N2", provider) + "�C";
   }

   virtual Object^ ToType(Type^ conversionType, IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      switch (Type::GetTypeCode(conversionType))
      {
      case TypeCode::Boolean: 
            return ToBoolean(nullptr);
      case TypeCode::Byte:
            return ToByte(nullptr);
      case TypeCode::Char:
            return ToChar(nullptr);
      case TypeCode::DateTime:
            return ToDateTime(nullptr);
      case TypeCode::Decimal:
            return ToDecimal(nullptr);
      case TypeCode::Double:
            return ToDouble(nullptr);
      case TypeCode::Int16:
            return ToInt16(nullptr);
      case TypeCode::Int32:
            return ToInt32(nullptr);
      case TypeCode::Int64:
            return ToInt64(nullptr);
      case TypeCode::Object:
            if (Temperature::typeid->Equals(conversionType))
               return this;
            else
               throw gcnew InvalidCastException(String::Format("Conversion to a {0} is not supported.",
                                                            conversionType->Name));
      case TypeCode::SByte:
            return ToSByte(nullptr);
      case TypeCode::Single:
            return ToSingle(nullptr);
      case TypeCode::String:
            return ToString(provider);
      case TypeCode::UInt16:
            return ToUInt16(nullptr);
      case TypeCode::UInt32:
            return ToUInt32(nullptr);
      case TypeCode::UInt64:
            return ToUInt64(nullptr);   
         default:
            throw gcnew InvalidCastException(String::Format("Conversion to {0} is not supported.", conversionType->Name));   
      }
   }

   virtual UInt16 ToUInt16(IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      if (m_Temp < UInt16::MinValue || m_Temp > UInt16::MaxValue)
         throw gcnew OverflowException(String::Format("{0} is out of range of the UInt16 type.",
                                                   m_Temp));
      else
         return Decimal::ToUInt16(m_Temp);
   }

   virtual UInt32 ToUInt32(IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      if (m_Temp < UInt32::MinValue || m_Temp > UInt32::MaxValue)
         throw gcnew OverflowException(String::Format("{0} is out of range of the UInt32 type.",
                                                   m_Temp));
      else
         return Decimal::ToUInt32(m_Temp);
   }

   virtual UInt64 ToUInt64(IFormatProvider^ provider)
   {
      if (m_Temp < UInt64::MinValue || m_Temp > UInt64::MaxValue)
         throw gcnew OverflowException(String::Format("{0} is out of range of the UInt64 type.",
                                                   m_Temp));
      else
         return Decimal::ToUInt64(m_Temp);
   }
};

The following example creates an instance of the Temperature class and calls the ChangeType(Object^, Type^, IFormatProvider^) method to convert it to the basic numeric types supported by the .NET Framework and to a String. It illustrates that the ChangeType method wraps a call to the source type's IConvertible implementation.

C++

void main()
{     
   Temperature^ cool = gcnew Temperature(5);
   array<Type^>^ targetTypes = gcnew array<Type^> { SByte::typeid, Int16::typeid, Int32::typeid,
                                                    Int64::typeid, Byte::typeid, UInt16::typeid,
                                                    UInt32::typeid, UInt64::typeid, Decimal::typeid,
                                                    Single::typeid, Double::typeid, String::typeid };
   CultureInfo^ provider = gcnew CultureInfo("fr-FR");

   for each (Type^ targetType in targetTypes)
   {
      try {
         Object^ value = Convert::ChangeType(cool, targetType, provider);
         Console::WriteLine("Converted {0} {1} to {2} {3}.",
                           cool->GetType()->Name, cool->ToString(),
                           targetType->Name, value);
      }
      catch (InvalidCastException^) {
         Console::WriteLine("Unsupported {0} --> {1} conversion.",
                           cool->GetType()->Name, targetType->Name);
      }                     
      catch (OverflowException^) {
         Console::WriteLine("{0} is out of range of the {1} type.",
                           cool, targetType->Name);
      }
   }
}
// The example dosplays the following output:
//       Converted Temperature 5.00�C to SByte 5.
//       Converted Temperature 5.00�C to Int16 5.
//       Converted Temperature 5.00�C to Int32 5.
//       Converted Temperature 5.00�C to Int64 5.
//       Converted Temperature 5.00�C to Byte 5.
//       Converted Temperature 5.00�C to UInt16 5.
//       Converted Temperature 5.00�C to UInt32 5.
//       Converted Temperature 5.00�C to UInt64 5.
//       Converted Temperature 5.00�C to Decimal 5.
//       Converted Temperature 5.00�C to Single 5.
//       Converted Temperature 5.00�C to Double 5.
//       Converted Temperature 5.00�C to String 5,00�C.

Version Information

Universal Windows Platform
Available since 8
.NET Framework
Available since 1.1
Portable Class Library
Supported in: portable .NET platforms
Silverlight
Available since 2.0
Windows Phone Silverlight
Available since 7.0
Windows Phone
Available since 8.1

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