Conversion functions

Conversion functions change a value from one data type to another.

This table describes the conversion functions that Transform supports. The same functions are described in the Transform API Reference (Groovydoc).

These functions rely on the Java dateFormat: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html.

User Function	Return Data Type	Description
`toBoolean(Number n)`	`Boolean`	Converts a number to a Boolean value; for example, `toBoolean(1)` evaluates to `true`. Note that only `0` evaluates to `false`. Any number other than `0` (including negative numbers) evaluates to `true`.
`toBoolean(String s)`	`Boolean`	Converts a String to a Boolean value; for example, `toBoolean("yes")` returns `false`. Note that this method only evaluates to `true` if the String is `"true"`. Capitalization is ignored, so `"true"`, `"TRUE"`, and `"tRuE"` are all `true`.
`toDouble(Boolean b)` `toDouble(Integer i)` `toDouble(Long l)` `toDouble(String s)`	`Double`	Converts a Boolean, Integer, Long, or String to a Double.
`toInteger(Double d)` `toInteger(Long l)` `toInteger(Boolean b)` `toInteger(String s)`	`Integer`	Converts a Double, Long, Float, Boolean, or String to an Integer. If the original value is too large, causes an exception. Note: These functions are not supported in BDD 1.0.
`toLong(Boolean b)` `toLong(Date d)` `toLong(Double d)`	`Long`	Converts a Boolean, Date, or Double to a Long.
`toLong(String s)`	`Long`	Converts a valid String to a Long. Invalid Strings (for example, one that contains letters) return `null`. Note: This function does not support locale parsing. If you need to specify a locale to properly convert the String, use a different Groovy method. For example, to properly convert the German String `"1.025,7"` to a long, you could use `NumberFormat.getInstance(Locale.GERMANY).parse("1.025,7")`.
`toString(Object arg)`	`String`	Converts an Object of any data type to a String.