Here is an extension method for strings in C# for parsing stings to other types.

Code at Gist
[gist id = "af652fbca4e543bc3c23" file = "GenericStringParserExtensionMethod.cs" ]

[emc2alert type="success" style="normal" position="top" visible="visible" closebtn="0" title="Live Example" ]Online working example can be found at http://ideone.com/ZP5xo[/emc2alert]

Online working example can be found at http://ideone.com/ZP5xo