Read the string value of a cell

[jamesgurung]

I am trying to get the string value of a cell which might contain text or numeric data, or might be blank. However, when I call reader.GetString(i) and the column is blank or contains numeric data, I receive an error, for example:

Unable to cast object of type 'System.Double' to type 'System.String'

Therefore, to get the value as a string, I am needing to write:

string val = reader.IsDBNull(i) ? null : (
  reader.GetFieldType(i) == typeof(double)
  ? reader.GetDouble(i).ToString()
  : reader.GetString(i)
);

Is there a better way of doing this?

[appel1]

What is your goal here?

If you want the string to be like what is shown in Excel then look at https://github.com/ExcelDataReader/ExcelDataReader/blob/develop/README.md#formatting

If you just want the value converted to some string using the current culture them something like string s = reader.GetValue(i)?.ToString() should work I think.

[jamesgurung]

Thank you.