Handling ExecuteScalar() when no results are returned

Question

I am using the following SQL query and the ExecuteScalar() method to fetch data from an Oracle database:

sql = \"select username from usermst wh         


        

Answer 1

I just used this:

    int? ReadTerminalID()
    {
        int? terminalID = null;

        using (FbConnection conn = connManager.CreateFbConnection())
        {
            conn.Open();
            FbCommand fbCommand = conn.CreateCommand();
            fbCommand.CommandText = "SPSYNCGETIDTERMINAL";
            fbCommand.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;

            object result = fbCommand.ExecuteScalar(); // ExecuteScalar fails on null
            if (result.GetType() != typeof(DBNull))
            {
                terminalID = (int?)result;
            }
        }

        return terminalID;
    }

Answer 2

Always have a check before reading row.

if (SqlCommand.ExecuteScalar() == null)
{ 

}

Answer 3

Alternatively, you can use DataTable to check if there's any row:

SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("select username from usermst where userid=2", conn);
SqlDataAdapter adp = new SqlDataAdapter(cmd);
DataTable dt = new DataTable();
adp.Fill(dt);
string getusername = "";
// assuming userid is unique
if (dt.Rows.Count > 0)
    getusername = dt.Rows[0]["username"].ToString();

Answer 4

Slight conjecture: if you check the stack for the exception, it is being thrown then the ADO.NET provider for Oracle is reading the underlying rowset to get the first value.

If there is no row, then there is no value to find.

To handle this case execute for a reader and handle Next() returning false for the case of no match.