title: How do I check for null/empty value in cshtml
body: <pre><code>&lt;b&gt;Start Date: &lt;/b&gt;@employee["StartDate"].&lt;br /&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Using MVC Razor 3/C#, how can I check if <code>employee["StartDate"]</code> value is null/empty in the cshtml? So that if it is, I instead display:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;b&gt;Start Date: &lt;/b&gt;Unknown.&lt;br /&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I tried: </p>
  
  <pre><code>@if(employee["StartDate"] == null){&lt;b&gt;Start Date: &lt;/b&gt;Unknown.&lt;br /&gt;} 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but that doesn't work.</p>