This Solution is less Vendor independent and works with an SQL, OleDB, MySQL Reader

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, int colIndex)
{
    return GetStringSafe(reader, colIndex, string.Empty);
}

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, int colIndex, string defaultValue)
{
    if (!reader.IsDBNull(colIndex))
        return reader.GetString(colIndex);
    else
        return defaultValue;
}

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, string indexName)
{
    return GetStringSafe(reader, reader.GetOrdinal(indexName));
}

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, string indexName, string defaultValue)
{
    return GetStringSafe(reader, reader.GetOrdinal(indexName), defaultValue);
}

This Solution is less vendor-dependent and works with an SQL, OleDB, and MySQL Reader:

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, int colIndex)
{
    return GetStringSafe(reader, colIndex, string.Empty);
}

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, int colIndex, string defaultValue)
{
    if (!reader.IsDBNull(colIndex))
        return reader.GetString(colIndex);
    else
        return defaultValue;
}

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, string indexName)
{
    return GetStringSafe(reader, reader.GetOrdinal(indexName));
}

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, string indexName, string defaultValue)
{
    return GetStringSafe(reader, reader.GetOrdinal(indexName), defaultValue);
}

This Solution is less Vendor independent and works with an SQL, OleDB, MySQL Reader

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, int colIndex)
    {
        return GetStringSafe(reader, colIndex, string.Empty);
    }

    public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, int colIndex, string defaultValue)
    {
        if (!reader.IsDBNull(colIndex))
            return reader.GetString(colIndex);
        else
            return defaultValue;
    }

    public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, string indexName)
    {
        return GetStringSafe(reader, reader.GetOrdinal(indexName));
    }

    public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, string indexName, string defaultValue)
    {
        return GetStringSafe(reader, reader.GetOrdinal(indexName), defaultValue);
    }

This Solution is less Vendor independent and works with an SQL, OleDB, MySQL Reader

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, int colIndex)
{
    return GetStringSafe(reader, colIndex, string.Empty);
}

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, int colIndex, string defaultValue)
{
    if (!reader.IsDBNull(colIndex))
        return reader.GetString(colIndex);
    else
        return defaultValue;
}

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, string indexName)
{
    return GetStringSafe(reader, reader.GetOrdinal(indexName));
}

public static string GetStringSafe(this IDataReader reader, string indexName, string defaultValue)
{
    return GetStringSafe(reader, reader.GetOrdinal(indexName), defaultValue);
}