>There are probably several ways to do this....one is to implement a try/catch block. Here's the way it would be in C#
>
>

>string cResult = "";
>try
>{
>    cResult = dr["firstname"].ToString();
>}
>catch (Exception)
>{
>   // your exception code
>}
>

That would be the last think I would want to do. I am sure there is a way to do that by using built in .NET component.