User Input Recap

string userResponse = Console.ReadLine();

The computer waits until the user has type in any text and an enter key. Console.ReadLine will then return the text provided, as a string value.

In this example, we choose to store the string as the value of the variable userResponse.

If we want to store the data returned as a variable who's datatype is not a string, then we need to convert it the desired datatype, using Convert.To.

Here are some examples:

Console.WriteLine("What is your Age?");    
string ageResponse = Console.ReadLine();
int myAge = Convert.ToInt32(ageResponse);

// the double and bool converts works the same
string baResponse = Console.ReadLine();
double battingAverage = Convert.ToDouble(baResponse);

string snowingResponse = Console.ReadLine();
bool isSnowing = Convert.ToBoolean(snowingResponse);

In the int example, we have a string variable, ageResponse, that we need to convert to an integer. Suppose we want to do math with the value, we will need a datatype, like an int, to be able to do it. So we pass the string to Convert.ToInt32, and it returns an integer value if it can. Above we can see, the returned int is stored in a new variable, myAge. We have to use a different variable, because the datatype is not string!