>>>I'm trying to stay away from ...ToString() because I think it defeats the purpose.
>>
>>
>>Why?
>
>Hi MC,
>
>I want to read the data in as it comes in.
>I want to accept whatever comes in and insert it into another data field with the same datatype w/o having to do.
>

>int.Parse(cRow["CashAmt"].ToString());.
>

Sam we already told u how u could do this
int myVar = (int)cRow["CashAmt"]

the (int)cRow["CashAmt"] what is does is cast what ever is on the cRow["CashAmt"] to type int, note that is that cast isn't possible you will get an error.