Good so far but one more thing is happening, no errors show up in the code.
However, when I run the app I'm getting a message
"Object reference not set to an instance of an object."
"Use the New keyword..."

it's at the line
lcDept = dsItems.Tables(0).Rows(0).Item("DeptMMC").ToString()

I thought that 'dsItems' dataset was already set as an object, why do I have to set a New keyword? And what am I setting it to? Is it because the dsItems is in the business object?

Thanks.