casting datareader value to a to a Nullable variable
Use the "IsDbNull" method on the data reader... for example:
bool? result = dataReader.IsDbNull(dataReader["Bool_Flag"]) ? null : (bool)dataReader["Bool_Flag"]
Edit
You'd need to do something akin to: bool? nullBoolean = null;
you'd have
bool? result = dataReader.IsDbNull(dataReader["Bool_Flag"]) ? nullBoolean : (bool)dataReader["Bool_Flag"]
Consider doing it in a function.
Here's something I used in the past (you can make this an extension method in .net 4):
public static T GetValueOrDefault<T>(SqlDataReader dataReader, System.Enum columnIndex)
{
int index = Convert.ToInt32(columnIndex);
return !dataReader.IsDBNull(index) ? (T)dataReader.GetValue(index) : default(T);
}
Edit
As an extension (not tested, but you get the idea), and using column names instead of index:
public static T GetValueOrDefault<T>(this SqlDataReader dataReader, string columnName)
{
return !dataReader.IsDBNull(dataReader[columnName]) ? (T)dataReader.GetValue(dataReader[columnName]) : default(T);
}
usage:
bool? flag = dataReader.GetValueOrDefault("BOOL_COLUMN");