String extention for converting strings to Dates etc. Assumes that you have already validated the string can covert to that type

Parser.cs

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;

public static class Parser {
    
    public static T Parse<T>(this string value) {        
        // Get default value for type so if string
        // is empty then we can return default value.
        T result = default(T); 
        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(value)) {            
            // we are not going to handle exception here
            // if you need SafeParse then you should create
            // another method specially for that.
            TypeConverter tc = TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(typeof(T)); 
            result = (T)tc.ConvertFrom(value);
        } return result;
    }
}