Mark,
>>>this is the error i was getting
Cannot implicitly convert type 'string' to 'bool' <I don't know why you'd get that error, unless you had were using a single "=" when you should have been using "==", like this:
if (PatientTextBox.Text = "")
instead of
if (PatientTextBox.Text == "")
But, in your example, you were using a "!=", so I didn't see anything wrong with it.
~~Bonnie