Question: I'm trying to populate a class object with values from a database table. The `someObject.Property` field is a nullable int type.

```
someObject.Property = Convert.ToInt32(dbReader["SomeField"]);

```

So, if `SomeField` is `null`, `Convert` will give a `DBNull` error. Is there a specific method I should be using for this?

Answer: 
There is `TryParse`

<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f02979c7.aspx>

You can also look at using the null coalescing operator `??` to give a default value if needed.
```
int someFieldIndex = reader.GetOrdinal("SomeField");
someObject.Property = reader.IsDbNull(someFieldIndex) ? null : (Int32?)reader.GetInt32(someFieldIndex);

```