I managed to achieve what I wanted using the following:
public bool DataIsValid(string s, Type someType) {
o = 0; // a class member object variable
try { o = Convert.ChangeType(s, someType); }
catch { return false; }
return true;
}
//using the object variable
double someDouble = (double)0;
//some more code
Thanks for the help.
solved Convert String to Type unknown at compile time