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How to convert int to decimal in BizTalk orchestration xpath?

How to convert int to decimal in Orchestration using xpath ? My QuantityReturned field is type integer in my schema when it calls the webservice it converts to decimal and call the webservice. Below is the xpath query for QuantityReturned.
QuantityReturned=xpath(OrderReturnMessage,
"number(/*[local-name()='QuantityReturned' and namespace-uri()=''])");
wSReturnSuccess = WebServiceHelper.CreateReturnAAAWS
(System.Convert.ToDecimal(QuantityReturned));
When tried with number function in xpath query, throw error that input string is not correct format.

It's very likely that your xpath is incorrect and returning a value which cannot be converted to decimal.
Can you evaluate your xpath against the message xml and see what is actually returned? Your current expression resolves to the value of an unqualified, root-level element called QuantityReturned.
Unless your message xml matches this, your xpath will likely return empty string.

In addition to Tom Redfern's answer, which is likely the root cause, I would recommend refactoring this into a call in an external assembly, such as:
public static decimal StringToDecimal(string s)
{
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(s))
{
// log error, throw exception, or just return a default value if acceptable
}
decimal d;
if (decimal.TryParse(s, out d))
{
return d;
}
else
{
// appropriately log errors and/or throw a more meaningful exception
}
}
You could also look into some of the NumberStyles options that the other overload of TryParse offers.
You could do this in an orchestration, but if this method becomes any more complex it's going to start looking really ugly in the expression editor - even as it is it will look a little ugly in the expression editor.

double.Parse throw a System.FormatException

I am trying to parse some string to a double value, using this parse method overload:
double.Parse("198.222213745118", CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture);
the CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture is fr-FR.
but this is throwing an exception of type FormatException.
What can be the reason?

French (i.e. fr-FR) use a comma to denote the start of the decimal part, not a period. They use a period to separate thousands.

I know this question is old but my answer might help someone else.
So this is the answer:
double.Parse("198.222213745118", System.Globalization.NumberStyles.AllowDecimalPoint, System.Globalization.NumberFormatInfo.InvariantInfo);
instead of
double.Parse("198.222213745118", CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture);

I suggest using the Double.TryParse rather than the .Parse as it is safer to use and makes sure you dont get any exception on parsing.
Here is a Code for you to use,
double answer = -1;
Double.TryParse("Value", out answer);
Now all you have to do is do a conditional statement that'll check if it indeed parsed' the string.

Checking empty text boxes which convert strings to integers using "int.Parse" method in C#

How do I check the empty check boxes which convert strings to integers using "int.Parse" in C#?
If I try to pass blank text boxes, visual studio gives me this error - "Input string was not in a correct format."
I already read some questions on stackoverflow which address the same issue, but I know that various people use various methods to do the same task. So I would like to know them as well. Please start with the simplest way you know first.

int multiplyBy;
if(int.TryParse(textBox3.Text, out multiplyBy)) {
//success
} else {
//string was not in correct format
}
The int.TryParse(string s, out int result) method trys to parse the string, but throws no exception if the format is wrong, it returns a bool indicating if the format was valid. The out int result parameter is the int wich should get the value.

Use Int32.TryParse to verify that the value in the text box is a valid integer
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f02979c7.aspx
You can check if the textbox has a value with:
string.IsNullOrEmpty(textbox.Text)

if you want it in single line of code
vb.net
int i = If(String.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox1.Text), 0, Int32.Parse(TextBox1.Text))
c#
int i = (String.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox1.Text)) ?? 0: Int32.Parse(TextBox1.Text)

Instead of directly parsing string representation into integer, check whether it is able to convert in integer. .NET has TryParse method of integer which tries to convert the string representation into int , and returns the bool value indicates whether the conversion succeeded. And if succeeded, stores the parsed value in second parameter of TryParse function which is of out type.
Note: TryParse method does not throw an exception if the conversion fails. It simply returns false indicates that conversion is got failed.
Ref : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f02979c7.aspx

Why don't you just catch the exception
try
{
int multiplyBy = int.Parse(textBox3.Text);
} catch(Exception){}
You can also catch(FormateException) if you like.
Hope this helps!

C# - failed parse exception?

I am writing a program in C#, and I want to catch exceptions caused by converting "" (null) to int. What is the exception's name?
EDIT:
I'm not sure I can show the full code... But I'm sure you don't need the full code, so:
int num1 = Int32.Parse(number1.Text);
int num2 = Int32.Parse(number2.Text);

If you can avoid it, do not code by exception!
The exception name you are looking for is called a FormatException.
However, it would be smarter to first do a TryParse on the object you are attempting to parse, e.g.
int value;
if(!int.TryParse("1", out value))
{
// You caught it without throwing an exception.
}

You are going to get a FormatException if a parse fails. Why not use int.TryParse instead?

As a side note, a simple way to find out the exception is to run it. When you encounter the error, it'll give you the exception name.

Let's have a look at the documentation (which is a much cleaner solution that "trying it out"):
public static int Parse(string s)
[...]
Exceptions:
ArgumentNullException: s is null.
FormatException: s is not in the correct format.
This should answer your question. As others have already mentioned, maybe you are asking the wrong question and want to use Int32.TryParse instead.

Depends on what you're using to do the conversion. For example, int.Parse will throw ArgumentNullException, FormatException, or OverflowException. Odds are it's ArgumentNullException you're looking for, but if that's an empty string rather than a null reference, it's probably going to be FormatException

When the exception fires you can see it's type. The smart thing to do is handle that case and display a graceful message to your user if possible.

You're probably looking to get a System.InvalidCastException, although I think that'll depend on how you try to perform the conversion.
That said, wouldn't it be quicker/easier to simply write the code and try it yourself? Particularly as you haven't specified how you'll be performing the conversion.

Just try it. This code:
int.Parse("");
Throws a FormatException.

Exceptions are expensive. You should use int.TryParse. It will return the boolean false if the conversion fails.

Convert.ToInt32 does not throw a format exception ("input string is not in the correct format") on a null string. You can use that if it is acceptable for the result to be a 0 for a null string. (still pukes on empty string though)
string s = null;
int i = Convert.ToInt32(s);
But if you expect a number to be in the box, you should either use TryParse (as was suggested) or a Validator of some kind to inform the user that they need to enter a number.

Parse v. TryParse

What is the difference between Parse() and TryParse()?
int number = int.Parse(textBoxNumber.Text);
// The Try-Parse Method
int.TryParse(textBoxNumber.Text, out number);
Is there some form of error-checking like a Try-Catch Block?

Parse throws an exception if it cannot parse the value, whereas TryParse returns a bool indicating whether it succeeded.
TryParse does not just try/catch internally - the whole point of it is that it is implemented without exceptions so that it is fast. In fact the way it is most likely implemented is that internally the Parse method will call TryParse and then throw an exception if it returns false.
In a nutshell, use Parse if you are sure the value will be valid; otherwise use TryParse.

If the string can not be converted to an integer, then
int.Parse() will throw an exception
int.TryParse() will return false (but not throw an exception)

The TryParse method allows you to test whether something is parseable. If you try Parse as in the first instance with an invalid int, you'll get an exception while in the TryParse, it returns a boolean letting you know whether the parse succeeded or not.
As a footnote, passing in null to most TryParse methods will throw an exception.

TryParse and the Exception Tax
Parse throws an exception if the conversion from a string to the specified datatype fails, whereas TryParse explicitly avoids throwing an exception.

TryParse does not return the value, it returns a status code to indicate whether the parse succeeded (and doesn't throw an exception).

For the record, I am testing two codes: That simply try to convert from a string to a number and if it fail then assign number to zero.
if (!Int32.TryParse(txt,out tmpint)) {
tmpint = 0;
}
and:
try {
tmpint = Convert.ToInt32(txt);
} catch (Exception) {
tmpint = 0;
}
For c#, the best option is to use tryparse because try&Catch alternative thrown the exception
A first chance exception of type 'System.FormatException' occurred in mscorlib.dll
That it is painful slow and undesirable, however, the code does not stop unless Debug's exception are settled for stop with it.

I know its a very old post but thought of sharing few more details on Parse vs TryParse.
I had a scenario where DateTime needs to be converted to String and if datevalue null or string.empty we were facing an exception. In order to overcome this, we have replaced Parse with TryParse and will get default date.
Old Code:
dTest[i].StartDate = DateTime.Parse(StartDate).ToString("MM/dd/yyyy");
dTest[i].EndDate = DateTime.Parse(EndDate).ToString("MM/dd/yyyy");
New Code:
DateTime startDate = default(DateTime);
DateTime endDate=default(DateTime);
DateTime.TryParse(dPolicyPaidHistories[i].StartDate, out startDate);
DateTime.TryParse(dPolicyPaidHistories[i].EndDate, out endDate);
Have to declare another variable and used as Out for TryParse.

double.Parse("-"); raises an exception, while
double.TryParse("-", out parsed); parses to 0
so I guess TryParse does more complex conversions.