assigning db nulls to strings

[John A Grandy]

Any reason to take this precaution ... ?

Dim s As String

s = IIf(.Item("MyField") Is DBNull.Value, "", .Item("MyField"))

 

[William Ryan]

Using the named columns instead of indexes or .GetOrdinal is yucky. Also,
instead of "" , I'd recommend string.empty so you don't declare unnecessary
strings.

Otherwise, the main reason to do it is to ensure you don't throw a Null
reference exception.

HTH,

Bill

 

[Armin Zingler]

Any reason to take this precaution ... ?

Dim s As String

s = IIf(.Item("MyField") Is DBNull.Value, "", .Item("MyField"))

How do you distinguish between DBNull.Value and zero-length strings? If
there's no difference why do you allow Null values in the database?

Apart from that, I'd do it the way you did. Perhaps in a function:

function DBNull2String(byval o as object) as string
if o is dbnull.value then return ""
return o.tostring
end function

 

[John A Grandy]

I have no control over the design & static pre-populating of the database.
I also have only very limited control over the dynamic populating of the
database.

 

[Armin Zingler]

I have no control over the design & static pre-populating of the
database. I also have only very limited control over the dynamic
populating of the database.

Ah, I see.

(as your problem seems to be solved, there's nothing else I can say ;-) )