Newb If Syntax: End of statement expected.

[emailbuilder88]

All,

Just trying to figure out some ASP on the fly and I am stumped. I am not entirely sure if this is .Net ASP or not, but figured this is a good place to start.

I am simply trying to fix a form input problem where a certain TextBox that usually contains integers can sometimes be empty. If empty, I would like to have my variable set to NULL if possible (assuming my DB will like that).

This is what I am attempting and the error follows:

<code>
Dim intDispOrder as Integer
If Trim(CType(e.Item.FindControl("txtDGDispOrder"),TextBox).Text) != "" Then
intDispOrder = (CType(e.Item.FindControl("txtDGDispOrder"),TextBox).Text)
End If
</code>

Compiler Error Message: BC30205: End of statement expected.

Can someone point me to the syntax problem? Any extra pointers about the actual code and if it will work are appreciated too!

TIA!

[emailbuilder88]

Oh, sorry, the error is on the If statement line.

[emailbuilder88]

Background: the original problem I am attempting to solve is the following exception that I was getting when the user didn't enter an integer in the TextBox as the code expects (without the If statement):

Exception Details: System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.

[Phil Weber]

"!=" is C#/JavaScript syntax. Try this instead:

If Trim(CType(e.Item.FindControl("txtDGDispOrder"), TextBox).Text) <> "" Then

[emailbuilder88]

Most excellent! I thank you kindly!

If someone doesn't mind, I also am wondering if I can initialize my integer variable as NULL (instead it seems to default to zero)? I tried two ways but got errors each time:

Dim intDispOrder as Integer = System.DBNull
BC30691: 'DBNull' is a type in 'System' and cannot be used as an expression.

Dim intDispOrder as Integer = NULL
BC30822: 'NULL' is not declared. 'Null' constant is no longer supported; use 'System.DBNull' instead.

Is it even possible to set a var to null?

[Phil Weber]

It is not possible to set an Integer variable to null. Either choose an integer value (e.g., -1) to represent a null value, or use an Object variable instead of an Integer:

Dim objDispOrder As Object ' Defaults to Nothing

[emailbuilder88]

Thanks, Phil. I think I was headed down the path of poor programming with that question.