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How to: Convert an Object to Another Type in Visual Basic

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You convert an Object variable to another data type by using a conversion keyword such as CType Function.

Example

The following example converts an Object variable to an Integer and a String.

Public Sub objectConversion(ByVal anObject As Object)  
    Dim anInteger As Integer  
    Dim aString As String  
    anInteger = CType(anObject, Integer)  
    aString = CType(anObject, String)  
End Sub

If you know that the contents of an Object variable are of a particular data type, it is better to convert the variable to that data type. If you continue to use the Object variable, you incur either boxing and unboxing (for a value type) or late binding (for a reference type). These operations all take extra execution time and make your performance slower.

Compile the code

This example requires:

  • A reference to the System namespace.

See also