title: Best way to assign database value to a String type variable?
body: <p>If I have a <code>DataRow</code> value and I want to assign it to a <code>String</code> variable, is the following an effective way to do this and assign an empty string if the <code>DataRow</code> value is <code>Null</code>?</p>
  
  <pre><code>Dim string1 As String = If(myDataRow("column1"), "")
  </code></pre>