Best way to convert object to integer - vb.net

Question

I wish to safely convert an object from an external cache to an Integer type.
The only way I can seem to do this is inside a try catch block like so:
Try
Return Convert.ToInt32(obj)
Catch
'do nothing
End Try
I hate writing catch statements like this.
Is there a better way?
I have tried:
TryCast(Object, Int32)
Doesn't work (must be reference type)
Int32.TryParse(Object, result)
Doesn't work (must be a string type)
UPDATE
I like the comment posted by Jodrell - this would make my code look like this:
Dim cacheObject As Object = GlobalCache.Item(key)
If Not IsNothing(cacheObject) Then
If TypeOf cacheObject Is Int32 Then
Return Convert.ToInt32(cacheObject)
End If
End If
'Otherwise get fresh data from DB:
Return GetDataFromDB

Answer 1

Clarification: the question was originally tagged c# vb.net; the following applies to C# only (although may be translated into VB.NET):
If it is a boxed int, then:
object o = 1, s = "not an int";
int? i = o as int?; // 1, as a Nullable<int>
int? j = s as int?; // null
so generalising:
object o = ...
int? i = o as int?;
if(i == null) {
// logic for not-an-int
} else {
// logic for is-an-int, via i.Value
}

Answer 2

Unesscessary conversion to String should be avoided.
You could use Is to check the type beforehand
Dim value As Integer
If TypeOf obj Is Integer Then
value = DirectCast(obj, Integer)
Else
' You have a problem
End If
or,
You could implement a variation on TryCast like this,
Function BetterTryCast(Of T)(ByVal o As Object, ByRef result As T) As Boolean
Try
result = DirectCast(o, T)
Return True
Catch
result = Nothing
Return False
End Try
End Function
Which you could use like this
Dim value As Integer
If BetterTryCast(obj, value) Then
// It worked, the value is in value.
End If

Answer 3

The simplest one is
Int32.TryParse(anObject.ToString, result)
Every Object has a ToString method and calling Int32.TryParse will avoid a costly (in terms of perfomance) exception if you Object is not a numeric integer. Also the value for result, if the object is not a string will be zero.
EDIT. The answer from Marc Gravell raised my curiosity. Its answer seems complex for a simple conversion, but it is better? So I have tried to look at the IL code produced by its answer
object o = 1, s = "not an int";
int? i = o as int?; // 1, as a Nullable<int>
int? j = s as int?; // null
IL CODE
IL_0000: ldc.i4.1
IL_0001: box System.Int32
IL_0006: stloc.0 // o
IL_0007: ldstr "not an int"
IL_000C: stloc.1 // s
while the IL CODE produced by my answer is the following
IL_0000: ldc.i4.1
IL_0001: box System.Int32
IL_0006: stloc.0 // anObject
IL_0007: ldloc.0 // anObject
IL_0008: callvirt System.Object.ToString
IL_000D: ldloca.s 01 // result
IL_000F: call System.Int32.TryParse
Definitively the answer from Marc is the best approach. Thanks Marc to let me discover something new.

Answer 4

this works:
Int32.TryParse(a.ToString(), out b);