When I call dataSet.GetXml() I don't get any xml returned for columns with null or blank values. Is there a simple, efficient way to get around this? An example of the problem below. Notice how a2 is missing from the second results section.
<results>
<a1>test1</a1>
<a2>test2</a2>
<a3>test3</a3>
</results>
<results>
<a1>Atest1</a1>
<a3>Atest3</a3>
</results>
The problem is detailed in this Microsoft KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q317961. See this previous SO question for more detail: DataSet.GetXml not returning null results.
I don't think there is a good solution to your direct question. Given context, there may be another way to approach the problem though.