Proper DataType for Currency 1

[khowell78737]

would i store a currency value as a decimal, single or double?

thanks!
Kevin

 

[Bruce1965]

I suppose the answer depends on memory constraints of the machine the program runs on. As this used to be an issue years ago, programmers were perhaps inclined to use a data type that didn't utilise much memeory. However, this day and age that doesn't seem to be an issue - therefore the choice, at the end of the day, is up to the programmer.

Personally, I would store the value as Decimal

 

[chiph]

I would use System.Decimal.

To create a currency value with 2 decimal places (like in US currency), you have to first start off with the value specified in cents, not dollars & cents:

Imports System.Globalization

Dim decNum As New Decimal(345, 0, 0, False, 2)
Dim cc As New CultureInfo("en-US")
Console.WriteLine(decNum.ToString("C", cc.NumberFormat))

This will write $3.45 to the command window.

Of course, the Decimal just contains a value, and doesn't know $ from £, so you'll need to store which currency it's in in a separate variable. I recommend you create a new class called IntlMoney which will encapsulate both the value, and the currency it's in.

I don't know why the framework doesn't have something like that.

Chip H.


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