FileHelpers reading string array from object array

Question

The problem I'm having is trying to read the the string array from the object array that is produced from the FileHelpers class.

This is my File Helpers class code:

[DelimitedRecord(",")]
public class test
{
    [FieldDelimiter(":")]
    public string header;

    public string[] phStrArray;
}

Then I try getting the fields from the object

string line="pie,cherry,berry:,cake,carrot,vanilla";
FileHelperEngine engine= new FileHelperEngine(className);
var test =engine.ReadString(line);
Object myObject = test[0];
FieldInfo[] fields = className.GetFields();
var objTempValue = fields[1].GetValue(myObject);
tempValue += Convert.ToString(objTempValue);

And that will work great for the regular string variable, but when it comes to the string array it will just return "System.String[]". Overall I'm just not sure how to read that string array into a string or make it an actual string array I can actually grab data from. I have a feeling I'm over thinking on how to get data from it.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Edit: Forgive me, I should of wrote that a little clearer(That's what I get for using var). The problem is the variable objTempValue turns into a type of Object{string[]}. So it's like the object is holding a string array and there doesn't seem to be a way to get to it. That's the variable I need to convert to string or get data from.

Update: Another way to do this is to cast it to a string array like so.

string[] arr = ((IEnumerable<object>)objTempValue).Cast<object>()
                                                  .Select(x => x.ToString())
                                                  .ToArray();

I'm not entirely sure what option is better, but both this and the answer seem to work quiet well.

Answer 1

You can use String.Join in order to convert a string array into a single string:

string line = String.Join(",", phStrArray);

The first parameter is the separator you want to use.

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Note: There reverse operation would be:

string[] arr =  line.Split(',');

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EDIT: If your variable is statically typed as object, then you must cast it to its runtime type:

object objTempValue =  new string[] { "pie", "cherry", "berry" };
string line = String.Join(",", (string[])objTempValue);
// line ==> "pie,cherry,berry"

In C# you cast to another type by placing the type in parentheses before the term:

object obj = 5; // System.Int32
int i = (int)obj;

Of course the type must be compatible to the actual value stored in the variable. In the case of a value type, assigning it to an object variable involves a boxing, and casting back involves an unboxing. See Boxing and Unboxing (C# Programming Guide) and Casting and Type Conversions (C# Programming Guide)