I need to "cast" an Integer to a SByte

[x_nick2001]

First here is the part of the code having trouble with :

*note macAddress would value for example: "000B8203E12C"

Public Shared Function encode(ByVal macAddress As String, ByVal config As String, ByVal encryption As Boolean) As SByte()
        Try
            Dim text1 As String = New StringBuffer().append(config).append("&gnkey=0b82").ToString
            Dim numArray1 As SByte() = StringImpl.getBytes(text1, "ISO-8859-1")
            Dim num1 As Integer = New java.util.Random().nextInt
            Dim num9 As Integer = 6
            If (num9 < 0) Then
                Throw New NegativeArraySizeException
            End If
            Dim numArray2 As SByte() = New SByte(num9 - 1) {}
            Dim num2 As Integer
            Dim valueUnsigned As Integer

            For num2 = 0 To 6 - 1
                valueUnsigned = java.lang.Integer.parseInt(StringImpl.substring(macAddress, (num2 * 2), ((num2 * 2) + 2)), 16) And 255
                numArray2(num2) = CType(valueUnsigned, SByte)
            Next num2

The valueUnsigned actually, takes the 80(which is in hexadecimal), change it to decimal which gives 130, the And 255, is just a way to ensure the number is not more than 8bits number or if you prefer over 255. So now I need to signed that number.

So the problem is CType gives me an error :
Value of type 'Integer' cannot be converted to 'System.SByte'.
looking like it doesn't want to change type from an Integer to an SByte

So I really need to find a way to do this, any kind of idea would be much appreciated

 

[sevenhalo]

The SByte value type represents integers with values ranging from negative 128 to positive 127.

Here's the link I got this from: http://authors.aspalliance.com/aspxtreme/sys/SByteClass.aspx

If it's returning 130 and trying to sign it; it's attempting to overflow, isn't it?