Check Nothing for attribute getting
Imports System Imports System.Xml Imports System.Xml.XPath Public Class MainClass Public Shared Sub Main() Dim root As XElement = <Root Att1="attribute 1 content" Att2="2"/> Dim att1 As XAttribute = root.Attribute("Att1") Dim v1 As String If att1 Is Nothing Then v1 = Nothing Else v1 = att1.Value End If Console.WriteLine("v1:{0}", IIf(v1 Is Nothing, "attribute does not exist", v1)) End Sub End Class