C# SQL Query results to string list

Question

Hi I want to query my database and return all the results as a string At the moment my code is like this

SqlDataReader DR = query.ExecuteReader();
  while (DR.Read())
{
    stringList.Add (DR.GetString(0));
}

With stringList being a list of strings, my question is how do I convert all results to a string. Thanks

SqlDataReader has a GetValues method that will return an object array that you could easily join using string.Join — D Stanley
– D Stanley, Commented Mar 31, 2015 at 17:11
This is almost always a really bad idea. If you have non-string data in the query, you'll really help yourself by working with the appropriate data type. — Joel Coehoorn
– Joel Coehoorn, Commented Mar 31, 2015 at 17:11
I can't upvote Joel's comment enough, so I'll expand on it and state that taking any non-string value (DateTime, Int, etc) and converting it at the Data layer instantly, it makes any type of sorting, presentation etc of those value's now much more difficult. Even if you are doing a simple CSV export file, convert the value at the very last moment (that way if someone comes back with a requirement to sort, it's extremely easy). — Erik Philips
– Erik Philips, Commented Mar 31, 2015 at 17:15

abhi · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-31 17:14:45Z

1

If you wish to join a all the elements of a List to a single string, the way to do it is call the join method on the string class, as D Stanley has suggested.

Here is a simple example.

https://dotnetfiddle.net/96cY4y

public static void Main()
{
    List<string> stringList = new List<string>();
    stringList.Add("Hello");
    stringList.Add("world");
    var strOut = string.Join(" ",stringList.ToArray());
    Console.WriteLine(strOut);
}

answered Mar 31, 2015 at 17:14

abhi

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