diff --git a/jacob/docs/BuildingJacobFromSource.html b/jacob/docs/BuildingJacobFromSource.html
index 505d90e..efa0c8c 100644
--- a/jacob/docs/BuildingJacobFromSource.html
+++ b/jacob/docs/BuildingJacobFromSource.html
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ <H1>Development Environment</h1>
 <H1>Build Process</H1>
 The build process is based on ANT.  
 You can run ANT from inside of eclipse or from the command line.
+Running from inside eclipse means you don't have any installation, pathing or configuration to do.
+You can just open the xml and then "run as ant" on the selected target in the "outline" pane.
 The ant process is driven off of a configuration file named
 <code>compilation_tools.properties</code> that describes the locations of the JDK and Microsoft
 C++ tools.  The <code>build.xml</code> file in the root directory contains examples of the contents
diff --git a/jacob/docs/ReleaseNotes.html b/jacob/docs/ReleaseNotes.html
index 97d08ed..fee5651 100644
--- a/jacob/docs/ReleaseNotes.html
+++ b/jacob/docs/ReleaseNotes.html
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ <h3>Tracked Changes</h3>
     <td width="13%" valign="top">111 (new numbers)</td>
     <td width="87%" valign="top">(M3)m_pDispatch is not 0 if not attached</td>
   </tr> 
+  <tr> 
+    <td width="13%" valign="top">117 (new numbers)</td>
+    <td width="87%" valign="top">(M4) NullPointerException injacob-1.17-M2</td>
+  </tr> 
   <tr> 
     <td width="13%" valign="top">&nbsp;</td>
     <td width="87%" valign="top">&nbsp;</td>
diff --git a/jacob/src/com/jacob/com/Variant.java b/jacob/src/com/jacob/com/Variant.java
index 6d6280a..ba4bc1c 100644
--- a/jacob/src/com/jacob/com/Variant.java
+++ b/jacob/src/com/jacob/com/Variant.java
@@ -2161,6 +2161,8 @@ public short toShort() {
 	 * <li>"null" if VariantEmpty,
 	 * <li>"null" if VariantError
 	 * <li>"null" if VariantNull
+	 * <li>"null" if Variant type didn't convert. This can happen for date
+	 * conversions where the returned value was 0.
 	 * <li>the value if we know how to describe one of that type
 	 * <li>three question marks if can't convert
 	 * 
@@ -2186,7 +2188,11 @@ public String toString() {
 		try {
 			Object foo = toJavaObject();
 			// rely on java objects to do the right thing
-			return foo.toString();
+			if (foo == null) {
+				return "null";
+			} else {
+				return foo.toString();
+			}
 		} catch (NotImplementedException nie) {
 			// some types do not generate a good description yet
 			return "Description not available for type: " + getvt();
diff --git a/jacob/unittest/com/jacob/com/VariantTest.java b/jacob/unittest/com/jacob/com/VariantTest.java
index 4012c1a..6dcedec 100644
--- a/jacob/unittest/com/jacob/com/VariantTest.java
+++ b/jacob/unittest/com/jacob/com/VariantTest.java
@@ -253,6 +253,32 @@ public void testToStringDoesNotConvert() {
 		}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Exercise ToString special cases
+	 */
+	public void testToStringEmptyValues() {
+		Variant v;
+		// create an empty variant
+		v = new Variant();
+		// check date per
+		v.changeType(Variant.VariantDate);
+		assertEquals("null", v.toString());
+		v.putDate(new Date());
+		assertNotNull(v.toString());
+		assertFalse("null".equals(v.toString()));
+
+		v.changeType(Variant.VariantInt);
+		v.putInt(1);
+
+		assertEquals("1", v.toString());
+		v.changeType(Variant.VariantEmpty);
+		assertEquals("null", v.toString());
+		v.changeType(Variant.VariantNull);
+		assertEquals("null", v.toString());
+		v.changeType(Variant.VariantError);
+		assertEquals("null", v.toString());
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Verify that booleans can be released. Part of the suite that checks all
 	 * types.
@@ -465,12 +491,12 @@ public void testDecimalConversion() {
 					new BigDecimal(i), v.getDecimal());
 			v.changeType(Variant.VariantFloat);
 			// now see if a float conversion would work
-			assertEquals("conversion to float failed " + i, new Float(i), v
-					.getFloat());
+			assertEquals("conversion to float failed " + i, new Float(i),
+					v.getFloat());
 			// now convert it back to decimal for reassignment
 			v.changeType(Variant.VariantDecimal);
-			assertTrue("Failed conversion of type back to Decimal " + i, v
-					.getvt() == Variant.VariantDecimal);
+			assertTrue("Failed conversion of type back to Decimal " + i,
+					v.getvt() == Variant.VariantDecimal);
 		}
 
 	}
@@ -545,9 +571,10 @@ public void testLargeDecimals() {
 						.unscaledValue().toString(16) + " scale=: "
 				+ modifiedDecimal.scale());
 		System.out.println("integer piece after rounding with scale 30 is "
-				+ VariantUtilities.roundToMSDecimal(
-						modifiedDecimal.setScale(30)).unscaledValue().toString(
-						16) + " scale=: " + modifiedDecimal.scale());
+				+ VariantUtilities
+						.roundToMSDecimal(modifiedDecimal.setScale(30))
+						.unscaledValue().toString(16) + " scale=: "
+				+ modifiedDecimal.scale());
 		try {
 			testVariant.putDecimal(VariantUtilities
 					.roundToMSDecimal(modifiedDecimal.setScale(30)));
@@ -568,9 +595,10 @@ public void testLargeDecimals() {
 						.unscaledValue().toString(16) + " scale=: "
 				+ modifiedDecimal.scale());
 		System.out.println("integer piece after rounding with scale 30 is "
-				+ VariantUtilities.roundToMSDecimal(
-						modifiedDecimal.setScale(30)).unscaledValue().toString(
-						16) + " scale=: " + modifiedDecimal.scale());
+				+ VariantUtilities
+						.roundToMSDecimal(modifiedDecimal.setScale(30))
+						.unscaledValue().toString(16) + " scale=: "
+				+ modifiedDecimal.scale());
 		testVariant.putDecimal(VariantUtilities
 				.roundToMSDecimal(modifiedDecimal.setScale(30)));
 		System.out.println("");