Very easy - but stumped! convert to currency

Ingrid

Hi,

OK. This is a very easy problem - that I can't find an answer for. I'm sure I'll fell dumb when I (you) figure it out.

I'm converting a string to currency. Nothing happens. It returns the same string - but not in catch - it is NOT going into catch.. Here's my function:

samples:
input:16406, 136.54
output: 16406, 136.54

public string currencyConvert(string money)
{
string curr ="";

try
{
curr = string.Format("{0:C}", money);
}
catch
{
curr = money;
}

return curr;
}

5 Replies

Know the answer? Post it — somebody with the same question will find it here.

Alan19y ago
There's no need to be embarrassed, as this behaviour is not obvious :)

Incidentally, if you pass in a string which isn't numeric (let's say "123A.56"), then the TryParse()method will just make the 'number' variable zero and will give a return value of 'false'. I didn't try to catch this in my example by throwing an exception but you could, of course, do this if you wish.
Ingrid19y ago
Thank you both. I'm embarrassed by that one!
19y ago
I was just about to post something like that, lol. I had to break out the laptop and test the code to see if it would work and it works like that :)
Alan19y ago
The 'C' format only works when the second argument to string.Format() is an actual number such as a decimal. It doesn't work with numeric strings. So, if you have .NET 2.0, I think you'll find this will work OK, Ingrid:

     public string currencyConvert(string money)
     {
       decimal number;
       decimal.TryParse(money, out number);
       return string.Format("{0:C}", number);
     }
19y ago
Its not returning anything? Im not sure I understand the problem, because if the "try" statement fails the "catch" should still work. But if the try statement IS executing properly and just not returning a value, i.e. "", something is wrong within the try code block. Is it returning anything at all from the method? It looks like it should at least return something...