I'm passing a ADO.NET 2.0 DataSet over a Web Service. Lots of sweet new ADO.NET capabilities, like managing nullvalue types before they go across the wire. It's important to remember to set these babies as you finger over your columns in the serverside Designer or you can get tagged with an exception on the client as in the 2nd pic. Nullvalue type management supports STRINGS only, so dates can still get tricky. Then again, you could just go with a NOT NULL on table date fields and default them to '6/9/1969.' Works on several levels. Or door #2, modify the web service reference.cs catch statements for dates and return a default Happy Date. I guess that wouldn't get nominated for a Best Practice Candidate though.
Something for your nerd titillation in the ADO.NET arena this evening.
