Is there a method that will evaluate a string and produce an integer (assuming the string is an equation) in C#

Question

Okay, I know that in Python, say you had a string called

strExpression and it's value was "1+2-(3*5)"

There is a python method (function, sorry I get the terms confused) that will evaluate that string and return a numerical integer value (in this case, it should return -12. I don't recall the python syntax because I did it a while ago in a course (and then I broke my arm and had to quit because I couldn't type), but hopefully someone knows what I mean

Is there a way to do this in C#

I am only learning, and am creating a simple calculator program, and I have made a basic one that allows you to add to the previous number, but I would like to extend it a bit for my own benefit. Thank you very much for any help.

Answer 1

There isn't exactly such a method in C#, but you can easily write one using the compiler at runtime to evaluate the expression. Check out CSharpCodeProvider.

Answer 2

You can use the Microsoft.JScript which exposes all client side javascript functions in C#

using System;
using Microsoft.JScript;
using Microsoft.JScript.Vsa;

namespace JustTest
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            object value = Eval.JScriptEvaluate("1+2-(3*5)", VsaEngine.CreateEngine());
            Console.Write(value);
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

Try this it uses CodeDOM to create a calculator