Stored procedure return value

Question

Hello all, I am trying to understand C# in VS 2005 sepcifically ASP web pages, I have managed to write some simple stored procedures to our SQL 200 server, that populate datatables fine. But when it comes to writing a stored procedure to return a value, well boy is this giving me a headache!!!! History:- Stored procedure ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.CountCalls ( @HowManyCallsToday int output ) AS SELECT @HowManyCallsToday = Count(*) FROM HD_Call WHERE (CONVERT(Varchar(10), DateRaised, 101) = CONVERT(varchar(10), GETDATE(), 101)) AND Status In ('Assigned', 'In Progress', 'Logged', 'On Hold', 'ReadyToGoLive'); RETURN When I try to get the value of @HowManyCallsToday back into the C# code I am gettin alsorts of wierd and wonderful things happening. C # code: This is a class being called form the ASP page in Page_load. Calling code: int howManyCalls; // How many logged errors? howManyCalls = CatalogAccess.GetDailyCallCount(out howManyCalls); Called class: public static string GetDailyCallCount(out int howManyCalls) { DbCommand comm = GenericDataAccess.CreateCommand(); comm.CommandText = "CountCalls"; DbParameter param = comm.CreateParameter(); param.ParameterName = "@HowManyCallsToday"; param.Direction = ParameterDirection.InputOutput; param.DbType = DbType.Int16; comm.Parameters.Add(param); //DataTable table = GenericDataAccess.ExecuteSelectCommand(comm); comm.Parameters["@HowManyCallsToday"].Direction = ParameterDirection.Output; int HowManyCallsToday; GenericDataAccess.ExecuteSelectCommand(comm); HowManyCallsToday = Int32.Parse(comm.Parameters["@HowManyCallsToday"].Value.ToString()); return HowManyCallsToday; // Error cannot implicitly convert int to string } Any help offered will be grately appreciated.