Question

I’m trying to store the “DataType” field value (type System.Type) of a DbDataReader.GetSchemaTable.DataRow to a class field of type System.Type.

i.e.:

Class MyClass

  Private _ColumnName As String
  Private _DataType As Type

  Sub New(row As DataRow)
    _ColumnName = Convert.ToString(row("ColumnName"))
    _DataType = row("DataType")
  End Sub

End Class

I can resolve the late binding problem with ColumnName by casting to string but I am at a loss as how to deal with the DataType.

If I use _DataType = row("DataType").GetType then System.RuntimeType is stored instead of the actual type.

Answer 1

If you know it’s an instance of Type, then use DirectCast(row("DataType"), Type)

Class MyClass

  Private _ColumnName As String
  Private _DataType As Type

  Sub New(row As DataRow)
    _ColumnName = Convert.ToString(row("ColumnName"))
    _DataType = DirectCast(row("DataType"), Type)
  End Sub

End Class