>This is a reference to a dataset created from a business object built by the business layer generator. In the business object, the field is defined as 'int' without the ? but the get statement returns a nullable value. In my statement -- if (!mmType.IsEmpty(pe.parish)) --, the pe is a reference to the entity object. Do I need to create a variable of type int? and test that rather than the dataset field value?

>Are you saying the pe.Parish property is NOT nullable, but it contains a null value? Is it null because you have created a new record?

No, the pe.Parish property is nullable. It is null because the user did not fill in that value. Here's the code from the entity object:

/// <summary>
/// parish
/// </summary>
public int parish
{
     get { return (int)mmType.GetNullableDbValue(this.Row["parish"]); }
     set { this.Row["parish"] = value; }
}

Thanks.

Linda