Use the "as" Operator for Reference Type Casting

Normally, people do casting in the code like this:

 

Button btnSave = (Button) sender ;

 

Where sender is of Object Type

This same casting can be done using the as operator:

 

Button btnSave = sender as Button;

 

There are two advantages to using the ‘as’ operator:

·         It makes your code more readable.

·         If a type mismatch occurs, the object will become null instead of throwing an exception.

 

Following is the code sample with which we can test this:

public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page

{

    Object obj1 = new Object();

   

    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

    {

        obj1 = "String";   

    }

 

    protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

    {

        //This statement will throw an exception

        TextBox t1 = (TextBox)obj1;

    }

    protected void Button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

    {

        //This will not throw any exception

        TextBox t1 = obj1 as TextBox;

    }

}

 

Note: This only works for reference types.

 

 

Thanks & Regards,

Arun Manglick

SMTS || Microsoft Technology Practice || Bridgestone - Tyre Link || Persistent Systems || 3023-6258

 

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