>The problem is that I'm getting casting errors when there are DB nulls., Is there a better way of dealing with this other than the IF statement I used above? I don't want a bunch of IF's around each line above.

This one comes from my framework. With the help of many members here, I have fine tuned it a little bit from time to time.

        ' Adjust a dataset to avoid null values
        ' expO1 Dataset
        Public Function AdjustDataSetToAvoidNullValue(ByVal toDataSet As DataSet) As DataSet
            Dim lcColumn As String = ""
            Dim ldDate As Date = oApp.GetEmptyDate()
            Dim loColumn As DataColumn
            Dim loRow As DataRow
            Dim loTable As DataTable

            For Each loTable In toDataSet.Tables

                For Each loRow In loTable.Rows

                    For Each loColumn In loTable.Columns
                        lcColumn = loColumn.ColumnName

                        If IsDBNull(loRow.Item(lcColumn)) Then

                            Select Case loColumn.DataType.ToString

                                Case "System.DateTime"
                                    loRow.Item(lcColumn) = ldDate

                                Case "System.Integer"
                                    loRow.Item(lcColumn) = 0

                                Case "System.Decimal"
                                    loRow.Item(lcColumn) = 0

                                Case "System.Boolean"
                                    loRow.Item(lcColumn) = False

                                Case "System.String"
                                    loRow.Item(lcColumn) = ""

                                Case "System.Int32"
                                    loRow.Item(lcColumn) = 0

                                Case Else
                                    DataErrorControlledByTheFramework("In " + _
                                     "DataXML.AdjustDataSetToAvoidNullValue(), the type " + _
                                     loColumn.DataType.ToString + " has not been defined.")

                            End Select

                        End If

                        ' The loXslCompiledTransform.Transform() cannot support NULL.
                        ' So, we have to remove them from the value.
                        loRow.Item(lcColumn) = oApp.StrTran(loRow.Item(lcColumn), Chr(0), "")

                    Next

                Next

            Next

            Return toDataSet
        End Function

You may adjust as needed. The goal is to replace null values with default empty values.