Why can't I check if a 'DateTime' is 'Nothing'?

Question

In VB.NET, is there a way to set a DateTime variable to \"not set\"? And why is it possible to set a DateTime to Nothing, but not<

Answer 1

DateTime is a value type, which is why it can't be null. You can check for it to be equal to DateTime.MinValue, or you can use Nullable(Of DateTime) instead.

VB sometimes "helpfully" makes you think it's doing something it's not. When it lets you set a Date to Nothing, it's really setting it to some other value, maybe MinValue.

See this question for an extensive discussion of value types vs. reference types.

Answer 2

A way around this would be to use Object datatype instead:

Private _myDate As Object
Private Property MyDate As Date
    Get
        If IsNothing(_myDate) Then Return Nothing
        Return CDate(_myDate)
    End Get
    Set(value As Date)
        If date = Nothing Then
            _myDate = Nothing
            Return
        End If
        _myDate = value
     End Set
End Property

Then you can set the date to nothing like so:

MyDate = Nothing
Dim theDate As Date = MyDate
If theDate = Nothing Then
    'date is nothing
End If