<p>Looking into System.Data.DbType there is no SqlVariant type there. SqlDataReader, for example, provides the GetString method for reading into string variable. What is the appropriate way to retrieve data from the database field of type sql_variant, presumably into object? </p>

<p>The aim is to read data stored as <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173829.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">sql_variant type</a> in database. Not to assign the value into variable of object type. I mentioned object type variable because I thing the sql_variant, if possible, would go into such type.</p>

If you want to put the data into a variable of type object then (simplified):
```
```
object result = null;
result = reader["columnNameGoesHere"];
```
```
Should do the trick.
There's also a good explanation of the various different methods of retrieving the contents of a given columns current record in
this DevHood tutorial
. The summary table of data type mappings at the end may come in handy too!