What do you want it to return if an exception occurs before the
assignment then?

Yes, IMO. You've left yourself open for problems.

Always assign a value to a variable before it might be used.

The answer to last entirely depends on the answer to the first question
I asked. If you want an empty string to be returned if you've caught an
exception before a "real" value was assigned, then yes. If you want to
return Nothing, set the value to Nothing to start with, etc.

It's actually an error in C# to do what you're doing. If you only assign
to a variable in one 'half' of an if statement and then use the variable
after the if statement, it's possible that you've made a mistake and
used a variable that you haven't given a value to. In C++, the variable
would have an undefined (typically garbage) value, and usually results
in a warning these days too.

String variables will probably have a nil value by default, presuming
the VB.NET compiler is producing the locals with the 'init' attribute
set - I haven't checked, but that's probably what happens. Ideally,
you'll pre-set values for all variables which aren't always set in both
branches of an if statement, or for those which are only assigned to
inside a try block but are used in the corresponding finally or except
blocks.

-- Barry