title: Save delimited string from SQL query as string array
body: <p>I am hoping to provide just enough information so as not to bore anyone.</p>
  
  <p>I have a model that creates a user, which has various properties including an array of specializations:</p>
  
  <pre><code>public class User
  {
      ...
      public string[] specializations { get; set; }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Part of my query retrieves the specializations as a delimited list:</p>
  
  <pre><code>STUFF(( SELECT  ';' + csc.description
          FROM    certified_specialization_code csc
              INNER JOIN  certified_specialization cs ON  csc.specialization_code = cs.specialization_code
          WHERE   cs.member_number = m.entity_number)
          FOR XML PATH('')), 1, 1, '' ) AS specializations,
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I then take the query values and assign them to my model:</p>
  
  <pre><code>while (reader.Read())
  {
      ...
      member.specializations = reader["specializations"];
      ...
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What is the proper syntax to take that string and assign it to member.specializations, the string[]?</p>