Question

Web server running in Dutch(Belgium)

double output;

double.TryParse(txtTextbox1.Text, out output);

Is this a good way to convert text to double in dutch environment? Let’s say the input is “24.45” instead of “24,45“

Answer 1

If you want to use the Dutch (Belgium) number format:

double output;
double.TryParse("24,45", NumberStyles.Any, CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("nl-BE"), out output);

Or to use the US number format:

double output;
double.TryParse("24.45", NumberStyles.Any, CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US"), out output);

If you attempt to parse “24.45” with a Dutch culture set, you’ll get back “2445”, similarly, if you attempt to parse “24,45” with a US culture, you’ll get “2445”. If you want the parse to fail if the wrong decimal point is used, change NumberStyles.Any to exclude the flag: NumberStyles.AllowThousands:

double output;
if (double.TryParse("24.45", NumberStyles.Any ^ NumberStyles.AllowThousands, CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("nl-BE"), out output))

If your entire application is in Dutch, you should change your cultureinfo globally – here’s how to do it in WinForms and here’s how to do it in ASP.NET.

Once you’re using a globally set CultureInfo, you can change the above code to:

double output;
double.TryParse("24.45", NumberStyles.Any, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, out output);