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  4. Cannot implicitly convert type 'object' to 'bool'

Cannot implicitly convert type 'object' to 'bool'

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  • T Tichaona J

    I keep getting the below error message when I try and run my code. Error 3 Cannot implicitly convert type 'object' to 'bool'. An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?) When I try run the below code: private void Pause_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { if (btnPause.Content = "Pause") <<<<

    C Offline
    C Offline
    cor2879
    wrote on last edited by
    #18

    Personally when performing value comparisons with strings (and many other types) I find I am far less prone to syntax errors if I make myself use the "Equals" method. With strings in particular, it is a good practice to use the static method

    String.Equals(string a, string b)

    as this eliminates the possibility of a null reference exception. With this in mind, the boolean in your if statement would look like this:

    if (String.Equals(btnPause.Content, "Pause"))

    "We are men of action; lies do not become us."

    J 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • T Tichaona J

      I keep getting the below error message when I try and run my code. Error 3 Cannot implicitly convert type 'object' to 'bool'. An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?) When I try run the below code: private void Pause_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { if (btnPause.Content = "Pause") <<<<

      M Offline
      M Offline
      michaelbierly
      wrote on last edited by
      #19

      you are trying to assign "Pause" to btnPause.content (=) you need the equality comparison operator (==) I dont have a lot of context to what you are doing, but you might want to try refering to sender rather than btnPause in the code.

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • T Tichaona J

        I keep getting the below error message when I try and run my code. Error 3 Cannot implicitly convert type 'object' to 'bool'. An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?) When I try run the below code: private void Pause_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { if (btnPause.Content = "Pause") <<<<

        T Offline
        T Offline
        tom1443
        wrote on last edited by
        #20

        Ah, bitten by the old "==" typo. Don't feel bad it was my first coding mistake in C 25 years ago. I still occasionally make that error but it usually takes me a whole lot less time to find it.

        1 Reply Last reply
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        • T Tichaona J

          I keep getting the below error message when I try and run my code. Error 3 Cannot implicitly convert type 'object' to 'bool'. An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?) When I try run the below code: private void Pause_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { if (btnPause.Content = "Pause") <<<<

          D Offline
          D Offline
          Devi Ganesan
          wrote on last edited by
          #21

          error in line "if (btnPause.Content = "Pause") " it should be like btnpauser.content == "Pause" hopefully this should fix the error

          1 Reply Last reply
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          • L Luc Pattyn

            it really should say

            if() expects a boolean and "btnPause.Content" isn't a boolean nor convertible to one

            and it could add

            there is an assignment in your expression; did you intend to test for equality? if so use ==

            Why can't error messages be very specific, after all the parser is specific when it checks things.

            harold aptroot wrote:

            I did not vote "bad answer"

            Neither did I, although I didn't like it much; the user should not change his habits just because the compiler lacks proper error reporting. The suggestion may be OK for C/C++, but doesn't help much for C# code. :)

            Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

            Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, and improve readability.

            modified on Saturday, August 7, 2010 10:51 AM

            T Offline
            T Offline
            TNCaver
            wrote on last edited by
            #22

            Here's a radical idea: why not throw out the '==' and '===' confusion and make the compiler use the single '=' as either an assignment or a comparative operator depending on the context, like VB does? Oh yeah, because we don't want C# to be like VB with all the stigma associated with such simpleton languages. Sorry, I forgot.

            L K J 3 Replies Last reply
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            • T TNCaver

              Here's a radical idea: why not throw out the '==' and '===' confusion and make the compiler use the single '=' as either an assignment or a comparative operator depending on the context, like VB does? Oh yeah, because we don't want C# to be like VB with all the stigma associated with such simpleton languages. Sorry, I forgot.

              L Offline
              L Offline
              Luc Pattyn
              wrote on last edited by
              #23

              I don't care much what symbol(s) get used for operators, I started out in Fortran which used .EQ. for equality testing. However if assignment and equality test operators coincide, some semantics get lost, as in a=b==c versus a=b=c; there is only so much context analysis can do. :)

              Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

              Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, and improve readability.

              1 Reply Last reply
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              • T Tichaona J

                I keep getting the below error message when I try and run my code. Error 3 Cannot implicitly convert type 'object' to 'bool'. An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?) When I try run the below code: private void Pause_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { if (btnPause.Content = "Pause") <<<<

                B Offline
                B Offline
                Bob1000
                wrote on last edited by
                #24

                Silly mistake, but hey CodeProject a bit of downer to place this question on the daily news email. or maybe someone is having a bad day and wants to pass it on.....:)

                1 Reply Last reply
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                • O Orjan Westin

                  Yes, I saw that once I'd replied. It was the changed subject line that threw me off. Sorry, I'm new in the neighbourhood. :)

                  E Offline
                  E Offline
                  ErrolErrol
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #25

                  Ok, first things first...If this is August 10th, I will gladly eat this post. Why are the messages all dated the 10th? Secondly, being "new in the neighbourhood" sounds like a good reason for everyone to pile on and really "get you" for not plowing through all of the messages!! LOL! :laugh:

                  O 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • T TNCaver

                    Here's a radical idea: why not throw out the '==' and '===' confusion and make the compiler use the single '=' as either an assignment or a comparative operator depending on the context, like VB does? Oh yeah, because we don't want C# to be like VB with all the stigma associated with such simpleton languages. Sorry, I forgot.

                    K Offline
                    K Offline
                    Kenneth Kasajian
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #26

                    You joke, but there's a lot of truth to that. you need the braces { and the weird 'for' syntax, the ++/-- operators and == for equality. it means it's a real programming language. Microsoft could have solved all of the technical problems without C#, by simply releasing .NET with only VB as the language, and it would simply have been the new version of VB, and the rest of us would be dealing with CString and MFC message maps. But now we get to implement IDispoable!

                    ken@kasajian.com / www.kasajian.com

                    1 Reply Last reply
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                    • L Lost User

                      :(( suitably chastised ...

                      It's time for a new signature.

                      A Offline
                      A Offline
                      alton turner
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #27

                      I thought it was a good idea, though I could never do that myself.

                      1 Reply Last reply
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                      • L Lost User

                        Instead of coding:

                        if (btnPause.Content == "Pause")

                        try writing it this way round

                        if ("Pause" == btnPause.Content)

                        then when you inadvertently miss one of the = signs the compiler will give you a much more useful message.

                        It's time for a new signature.

                        J Offline
                        J Offline
                        Jonathan C Dickinson
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #28

                        Yeugh! That looks too much like C++ for my liking. The alternate compiler error is just as confusing; and the alternate code is more confusing to read. The reason they did things the second way in C++ is because:

                        if (btnPause->Content = "Pause") // Compiles with no errors or warnings NPNPNP

                        And:

                        if ("Pause" = btnPause->Content) // Doesn't compile (error)

                        We don't need to resort to such language hacks in C#. Please, for the kittens!

                        He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. [Chineese Proverb] Jonathan C Dickinson (C# Software Engineer)

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • T TNCaver

                          Here's a radical idea: why not throw out the '==' and '===' confusion and make the compiler use the single '=' as either an assignment or a comparative operator depending on the context, like VB does? Oh yeah, because we don't want C# to be like VB with all the stigma associated with such simpleton languages. Sorry, I forgot.

                          J Offline
                          J Offline
                          Jonathan C Dickinson
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #29

                          Nope. Firstly, there is no === in C#. Secondly the 'inconvenience' of == is outweighed by its benefit. For example:

                          while((line = reader.ReadLine()) != null)

                          This would be more difficult to read (albeit probably less confusing) without the explicit identity equality operator:

                          line = reader.ReadLine();
                          while(line != null)
                          {

                          line = reader.ReadLine();
                          }

                          The second block has absolutely no intent locality (keeping the same ideas in the same place in code).

                          He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. [Chineese Proverb] Jonathan C Dickinson (C# Software Engineer)

                          L 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • C cor2879

                            Personally when performing value comparisons with strings (and many other types) I find I am far less prone to syntax errors if I make myself use the "Equals" method. With strings in particular, it is a good practice to use the static method

                            String.Equals(string a, string b)

                            as this eliminates the possibility of a null reference exception. With this in mind, the boolean in your if statement would look like this:

                            if (String.Equals(btnPause.Content, "Pause"))

                            "We are men of action; lies do not become us."

                            J Offline
                            J Offline
                            Jonathan C Dickinson
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #30

                            You can't get a NRE using the == operator. The .Net runtime essentially does this:

                             if (Object.ReferenceEquals(a, null) && Object.ReferenceEquals(b, null)) return true;
                            

                            else if (Object.ReferenceEquals(a, null) || Object.ReferenceEquals(b, null)) return false;
                            else return a.Equals(b);

                            Unless you override the == operator (in which case you should do this in the header). The String.Equals is better because you would be more inclined to use the StringComparison enum[^] - but that is only the case for Strings.

                            He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. [Chineese Proverb] Jonathan C Dickinson (C# Software Engineer)

                            C 1 Reply Last reply
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                            • J Jonathan C Dickinson

                              Nope. Firstly, there is no === in C#. Secondly the 'inconvenience' of == is outweighed by its benefit. For example:

                              while((line = reader.ReadLine()) != null)

                              This would be more difficult to read (albeit probably less confusing) without the explicit identity equality operator:

                              line = reader.ReadLine();
                              while(line != null)
                              {

                              line = reader.ReadLine();
                              }

                              The second block has absolutely no intent locality (keeping the same ideas in the same place in code).

                              He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. [Chineese Proverb] Jonathan C Dickinson (C# Software Engineer)

                              L Offline
                              L Offline
                              Lost User
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #31

                              Jonathan C Dickinson wrote:

                              This would be more difficult to read (albeit probably less confusing) without the explicit identity equality operator:

                              Except your example uses the inequality operator. :doh:

                              It's time for a new signature.

                              J 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • L Lost User

                                Jonathan C Dickinson wrote:

                                This would be more difficult to read (albeit probably less confusing) without the explicit identity equality operator:

                                Except your example uses the inequality operator. :doh:

                                It's time for a new signature.

                                J Offline
                                J Offline
                                Jonathan C Dickinson
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #32

                                I was talking hypothetically, i.e. if '=' was the identity equality operator; expressions like the one I used wouldn't work.

                                while((line == reader.ReadLine()) != null) { } // This is what I was talking about.

                                He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. [Chineese Proverb] Jonathan C Dickinson (C# Software Engineer)

                                L 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • J Jonathan C Dickinson

                                  I was talking hypothetically, i.e. if '=' was the identity equality operator; expressions like the one I used wouldn't work.

                                  while((line == reader.ReadLine()) != null) { } // This is what I was talking about.

                                  He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. [Chineese Proverb] Jonathan C Dickinson (C# Software Engineer)

                                  L Offline
                                  L Offline
                                  Lost User
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #33

                                  Jonathan C Dickinson wrote:

                                  if '=' was the identity equality operator; expressions like the one I used wouldn't work.

                                  I don't see that that follows, since the compiler would still recognise != as the not equals operator.

                                  It's time for a new signature.

                                  J 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • L Lost User

                                    Jonathan C Dickinson wrote:

                                    if '=' was the identity equality operator; expressions like the one I used wouldn't work.

                                    I don't see that that follows, since the compiler would still recognise != as the not equals operator.

                                    It's time for a new signature.

                                    J Offline
                                    J Offline
                                    Jonathan C Dickinson
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #34

                                    Hurm... The example doesn't need a == operator because it is demonstrating what is possible when a = and a == are distinct. With == around; = becomes more versatile. Because = is more versatile the example I gave is possible. If there was only = (and no ==) the example I gave simply wouldn't work (you would get an warning saying that a boolean is never null). I think the mathematical term for this kind of 'proof' is proof by contradiction. The compiler would recognize != as the not equals operator, BUT it would recognize the = as identity equality and not assignment. Thus the AST would look (where the VB-route is taken) something like this: WHILESTMT(BOOLEXPR(BOOLEXPR("line", Operator.IdentityEquality, "reader.ReadLine"), Operator.IdentityInequality, NULL)) As opposed to (and why my example works): WHILESTMT(BOOLEXPR(BOOLEXPR("line", **_Operator.Assign_**, "reader.ReadLine"), Operator.IdentityInequality, NULL)) More simply, the following expression results in a boolean type (and boolean value) in VB: a = b In C# is results in the type of 'a' (and the value contained by 'a'). Which is why these statements are possible: int0 = int1 = int2 = int3 = int4 = 0; // Set all to 0.

                                    He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. [Chineese Proverb] Jonathan C Dickinson (C# Software Engineer)

                                    L 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • J Jonathan C Dickinson

                                      Hurm... The example doesn't need a == operator because it is demonstrating what is possible when a = and a == are distinct. With == around; = becomes more versatile. Because = is more versatile the example I gave is possible. If there was only = (and no ==) the example I gave simply wouldn't work (you would get an warning saying that a boolean is never null). I think the mathematical term for this kind of 'proof' is proof by contradiction. The compiler would recognize != as the not equals operator, BUT it would recognize the = as identity equality and not assignment. Thus the AST would look (where the VB-route is taken) something like this: WHILESTMT(BOOLEXPR(BOOLEXPR("line", Operator.IdentityEquality, "reader.ReadLine"), Operator.IdentityInequality, NULL)) As opposed to (and why my example works): WHILESTMT(BOOLEXPR(BOOLEXPR("line", **_Operator.Assign_**, "reader.ReadLine"), Operator.IdentityInequality, NULL)) More simply, the following expression results in a boolean type (and boolean value) in VB: a = b In C# is results in the type of 'a' (and the value contained by 'a'). Which is why these statements are possible: int0 = int1 = int2 = int3 = int4 = 0; // Set all to 0.

                                      He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. [Chineese Proverb] Jonathan C Dickinson (C# Software Engineer)

                                      L Offline
                                      L Offline
                                      Lost User
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #35

                                      :confused:

                                      It's time for a new signature.

                                      J 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • J Jonathan C Dickinson

                                        You can't get a NRE using the == operator. The .Net runtime essentially does this:

                                         if (Object.ReferenceEquals(a, null) && Object.ReferenceEquals(b, null)) return true;
                                        

                                        else if (Object.ReferenceEquals(a, null) || Object.ReferenceEquals(b, null)) return false;
                                        else return a.Equals(b);

                                        Unless you override the == operator (in which case you should do this in the header). The String.Equals is better because you would be more inclined to use the StringComparison enum[^] - but that is only the case for Strings.

                                        He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. [Chineese Proverb] Jonathan C Dickinson (C# Software Engineer)

                                        C Offline
                                        C Offline
                                        cor2879
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #36

                                        Jonathan, I can see why my language may have been confusing. I was not meaning to imply that using the == operator would result in a NullReferenceException. My first statement was that the "Equals" method should be used to make the comparison, and I then went on to state that the static method should be preferred for strings (rather than the instance method) since using the instance method could result in a NullReferenceException while using the static method will not. Looking back at my post, however, I can see why one might think I was implying something different, which was not my intent. Regardless, thanks.

                                        "We are men of action; lies do not become us."

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • E ErrolErrol

                                          Ok, first things first...If this is August 10th, I will gladly eat this post. Why are the messages all dated the 10th? Secondly, being "new in the neighbourhood" sounds like a good reason for everyone to pile on and really "get you" for not plowing through all of the messages!! LOL! :laugh:

                                          O Offline
                                          O Offline
                                          Orjan Westin
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #37

                                          The messages are dated [date] [month] [year], so they're all posted in 2010, or '10 for short. And it's August 10th now... As for piling on, I'd expect to be shouted at for factual errors, or bad advice (like saying "Use Emacs" ;-) but not so much for being a newbie. And should that happen, well, I've been online long enough to grow a reasonably thick skin.

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