title: how to check if a hidden value is null
body: <p>I have a asp.net app where I utilize hidden fields to store values (if need be).</p>
  
  <p>So on the designer side I have this..</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;asp:HiddenField ID="hdDDAPDischargeDate" runat="server" /&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In my C# code I either assign a value to it or leave it as is, so basically something along the lines...</p>
  
  <pre><code>if ( condition.........) 
  {
   hdDDAPDischargeDate.Value.ToString()== '10/23/2017'
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But in many cases I don't assign a value, so later on when i go to check what the value of it is, i can't get it to hit the <code>ELSE</code> part of the <code>if</code> statement</p>
  
  <p>I tried:</p>
  
  <pre><code>if (hdDDAPDischargeDate.Value != null)
  
  if (hdDDAPDischargeDate.Value.ToString != null)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But in both cases it thinks there's a value in the field, or I'm basically checking it wrong</p>
  
  <p>If i hover over the field, it simply shows <code>""</code></p>