Question

This is a follow-up to this question about converting values with reflection. Converting an object of a certain type to another type can be done like this:

object convertedValue = Convert.ChangeType(value, targetType);

Given two Type instances (say FromType and ToType), is there a way to test whether the conversion will succeed?

E.g. can I write an extension method like this:

public static class TypeExtensions
{
    public static bool CanChangeType(this Type fromType, Type toType)
    {
        // what to put here?
    }
}

EDIT: This is what I have right now. Ugly, but I don’t see another way yet…

bool CanChangeType(Type sourceType, Type targetType)
{
  try
  {
    var instanceOfSourceType = Activator.CreateInstance(sourceType);
    Convert.ChangeType(instanceOfSourceType, targetType);
    return true; // OK, it can be converted
  }
  catch (Exception ex)
  {
    return false;
  }

Answer 1

I was just encountering this same issue, and I used Reflector to look at the source for ChangeType. ChangeType throws exceptions in 3 cases:

1. conversionType is null
2. value is null
3. value does not implement IConvertible

After those 3 are checked, it is guaranteed that it can be converted. So you can save a lot of performance and remove the try{}/catch{} block by simply checking those 3 things yourself:

public static bool CanChangeType(object value, Type conversionType)
{
    if (conversionType == null)
    {
        return false;
    }

    if (value == null)
    {              
        return false;
    }

    IConvertible convertible = value as IConvertible;

    if (convertible == null)
    {
        return false;
    }

    return true;
}