title: Return empty string using Linq to SQL - Related table with no rows - ASP.Net MVC
body: <p>I have 1 to many relationship with the following tables - Person and Email. When using linq to sql and ASP.Net MVC, I'd like to show the first email or an empty string in my <B>Person</b> view using code like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;%= Html.Encode(Model.Emails.FirstOrDefault().EmailAddress) %&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In cases where there are no email rows, I receive a NullReferenceException. I can return null safe values from SQL by using a view or sproc, but I'd like to just stick with generic linq to sql objects bound to tables. </p>