>>Column elements in typed DataSets can have a 'codegen:nullValue="_empty"' attribute added to them to control what value is exposed when the underlying data is DBNull.
>
>Maybe the other data access classes - like DataReaders - need similar functionality.<

Maybe ... that would mean subclassing the DataReader class ... assuming that it's possible to add that sort of functionality to it. If that solved the problem, I'd think it'd be better to do it that way, than having calls to your nvl() function all over the place. <g>

~~Bonnie