How to retrieve an int value rather than a boolean from a TINYINT(1) column?

Question

I have a MySQL column specified as:

`type` TINYINT(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT \'0\'

The intent of the column is to store an integer value not to e

Answer 1

One solution I've found is to simply change the column type to UNSIGNED:

`type` tinyint(1) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0'

This has the following effect:

var Temp = Reader["type"].GetType(); // equals "Byte"

Which does retrieve the proper result (2) upon calling .GetInt32().

However if for some reason you wanted to store values from -127 to 127 (using it as a signed TINYINT) this solution doesn't work.

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Another solution is to change the column type to TINYINT(2):

`type` tinyint(2) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0'

This gives:

var Temp = Reader["type"].GetType(); // equals "SByte"

Also yielding the proper result (2).

However this brings into question the purpose of the number after TINYINT (i.e. TINYINT(#)). Isn't it for "optionally specifying the display width"? Maybe someone can shed more light on this point.

Answer 2

Put that in your connection string to use tinyint as number

TreatTinyAsBoolean=false

Answer 3

The answer for the Connector's confusion may be this part from MySQL docs; Numeric Types:

As of MySQL 5.0.3, a BIT data type is available for storing bit-field values. (Before 5.0.3, MySQL interprets BIT as TINYINT(1).) ...

or (even more probable) this part from Numeric Type Overview:

BOOL, BOOLEAN

These types are synonyms for TINYINT(1). A value of zero is considered false. Nonzero values are considered true ...