Type conversions

The IDO protocol classes store all property and parameter values internally as strings in a non-localized internal format. However, the framework also provides methods that allow you to transparently convert between supported native .NET CLR data types and the internal formatted string values. You should always use strongly typed variables when getting values from, or putting values into, any of the IDO protocol classes in order to take advantage of this feature and avoid problems related to systems running with different regional settings. This is especially important when working with date and numeric values.

The built-in VB functions for data type conversions (CStr, CDate, CInt, etc.) are sensitive to the regional settings for the application or local machine. Do not use these functions for converting to and from internal IDO strings.