public Object convert(Class type, Object value) { String string = (String) value; // wipe out white space, converters would fail trying to // parse "153 " just because of the trailing space if(string != null) string = string.trim(); Number parsed = null; try { //first try integer parsed = (Number) new IntegerConverter().convert(Integer.class, string); } catch(Exception e) {} if ( parsed == null ) { //try double parsed = (Number) new DoubleConverter().convert(Double.class,string); } return parsed; }; };