Handling empty relation to child object

[Andrew]

In a Typed Dataset, is there a way on the xs:keyref tag that I can specify
how to handle null child objects?

For example, if I have an Invoice table, where a ClientID key is used to
create a reference to a Clients Table by it's ID Column. On the Clients
table I have a Name element.
In the calling code I do :
x = myInvoice.Reference
x = myInvoice.Amount
x = myInvoice.Rate
x = myInvoice.Client.Name
this will throw an error if, for whatever reason, the Client does not exist.
How can I get it to return an empty string instead of having to do :

If Not myInvoice.Client = Nothing Then
x = myInvoice.Client.Name
else
x = ""
End If

 

[Martin]

A trck I always use is this:

x = myInvoice.Client.Name & ""

Hth,
Martin

 

[Andrew]

Thanks for the reply Martin, but that still throws and exception because
myInvoice.Client is Nothing.
Or am I missing something?

 

[Martin]

No, you're not missing anything, I did.

I missed the 'Client' in between the dots.

In this case, sorry but I don't know any other way than to test if client =
nothing...

 

[OpticTygre]

What if you just did

Try
x = myInvoice.Client.Name
Catch
x = ""
End Try

It's essentially the same thing, but you won't have to check for Client =
Nothing. I'm not sure if this is faster than your way, though.

-J