title: What native dotNet data type is most appropriate for conveying SQL Server hierarchyId values?
body: <p>Specifically we have a SQL Server stored procedure that accepts a hierarchyId as a parameter, and typically we have a SOAP layer on our stored procs that allows them to be called via SOAP. </p>
  
  <p>The SOAP services are implemented using the [WebMethod] attribute on C# methods, and these methods are defined using native dotNet types that typically map well to SQL server types.</p>
  
  <p>At this time I am not sure what data type to use in the C# WebMethod to accept a hierarchyId. Perhaps I should use a hierarchy path string of the form '/1/2/3' and a function to parse this into a <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sqlserver.types.sqlhierarchyid%28v=sql.105%29.aspx" rel="nofollow">SqlHierarchyId</a> that can be passed to a stored procedure.</p>