exception "nullable value must have a value" for datetime [duplicate]

Question

I am trying to assign 'null' value to Datetime? object. But it is throwing "nullable value must have a value" exception.

 //item.PlannedStartDate value is nothing.
 fact_Initiative.Start_Date = If([String].IsNullOrEmpty(item.PlannedStartDate), 
    DBNull.Value, CType(Convert.ToDateTime(item.PlannedStartDate), 
    System.Nullable(Of Date)))

How to solve this

Answer 1

fact_Initiative.Start_Date =If(String.IsNullOrEmpty(item.PlannedStartDate), CType(Nothing, DateTime?), DateTime.Parse(item.PlannedStartDate))