Non-nullable makes empty string invalid?

I have some entities, some of which have non-nullable string properties. If I set these to an empty string, though, and attempt saving them, I get the following unexpected error message:

"FieldName is required"

Yeah, well, I set FieldName to something, I set it to "". Why does your code treat "not null" as "not empty string"? They are not the same thing.

I tried doing that, but I still get the same exception. I don't think I'm setting the DefaultVerifierOptions too late either, it's the first thing I do after instantiating my EntityManager.

I noticed upon catching the exception that the DefaultVerifierOptions.ShouldTreatEmptyStringAsNull setting was false, but that a Non-Public member of the VerifierEngine has a field "_verifierOptions" where the setting was true. I assumed those are the settings being used, not the DefaultVerifierOptions.

This behavior can be verified by creating an instance of the entity manager and setting the DefaultVerifierOptions.ShouldTreatEmptyStringAsNull setting to false, and then breaking and looking at the following value in the Watch window: ((IdeaBlade.EntityModel.EntityManager)(entityManager)).VerifierEngine._verifierOptions.

However, even correcting that value didn't fix my problem. I tried changing it through the Watch window, and I STILL get the exception. This issue truly has me baffled.

I also noticed there was a IdeaBlade.Validation.VerifierOptions.SystemDefault which also has ShouldTreatEmptyStringAsNull. I'm not allowed to modify that one, however, so I can't tell if it influences anything.

This is on the server. Or, rather, it's in a Console Application. There's no client/server relationship here, I'm working directly against the project with the edmx file and the IB.Designer.cs file in it.