Question

I am having trouble converting a value in a string array to int since the value could possibly be null.

StreamReader reader = File.OpenText(filePath);
string currentLine = reader.ReadLine();
string[] splitLine = currentLine.Split(new char[] { '|' });
object.intValue = Convert.ToInt32(splitLine[10]);

This works great except for when splitLine[10] is null.
An error is thrown: `System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.

Can someone provide me with some advice as to what the best approach in handling this would be?

Answer 1

if (splitLine[10] != null)
    object.intValue = Convert.ToInt32(splitLine[10]);
else
    //do something else, if you want

You might also want to check that splitLine.Length > 10 before getting splitLine[10].

If you’re reading something like a CSV file, and there’s a chance it could be somewhat complicated, such as reading multiple values, it probably will make sense for you to use a connection string or other library-sorta-thing to read your file. Get example connection strings from http://www.connectionstrings.com/textfile, using Delimited(|) to specify your delimiter, and then use them like using (var conn = new OleDbConnection(connectionString)). See the section in http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/27802/Using-OleDb-to-Import-Text-Files-tab-CSV-custom about using the Jet engine.