Convert rows from a data reader into typed results

Question

I\'m using a third party library which returns a data reader. I would like a simple way and as generic as possible to convert it into a List of objects.
For example, say

Answer 1

Whilst I wouldn't recommend this for production code, but you can do this automatically using reflection and generics:

public static class DataRecordHelper
{
    public static void CreateRecord(IDataRecord record, T myClass)
    {
        PropertyInfo[] propertyInfos = typeof(T).GetProperties();

        for (int i = 0; i < record.FieldCount; i++)
        {
            foreach (PropertyInfo propertyInfo in propertyInfos)
            {
                if (propertyInfo.Name == record.GetName(i))
                {
                    propertyInfo.SetValue(myClass, Convert.ChangeType(record.GetValue(i), record.GetFieldType(i)), null);
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

public class Employee
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public DateTime? BirthDate { get; set; }

    public static IDataReader GetEmployeesReader()
    {
        SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["NorthwindConnectionString"].ConnectionString);

        conn.Open();
        using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("SELECT EmployeeID As Id, LastName, BirthDate FROM Employees"))
        {
            cmd.Connection = conn;
            return cmd.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.CloseConnection);
        }
    }

    public static IEnumerable GetEmployees()
    {
        IDataReader rdr = GetEmployeesReader();
        while (rdr.Read())
        {
            Employee emp = new Employee();
            DataRecordHelper.CreateRecord(rdr, emp);

            yield return emp;
        }
    }
}

You can then use CreateRecord() to instantiate any class from the fields in a data reader.

GvEmps.DataSource = Employee.GetEmployees();
GvEmps.DataBind();