c# - Does a DataSets DataTable inherit structure when no records exist?

Question

I'm hooking a DataSet up to a SQL CE 3.5 database and chasing down an exception (nullref). I think the issue may be caused by an empty DataSet but I'm struggling to understand the way in which the structure of a DataTable works.

If I populate a DataSet against a table where only the structure exists, no records have been added, what is the standard behavior? Is a DataTable of matching structure instantiated or is the DataSet left empty? (assuming this Database contains just the one table I'm connecting to in this case).

EDIT: Cheap example

Database "Contacts" with just 1 table "MyContacts". It has four fields, ContactID, Name, Phone, Email (int, nvarchar x3)

            DataSet data = new DataSet()
    SqlCeConnection connection = new SqlCeConnection(); 
            SqlCeDataAdapter adapter = new SqlCeDataAdapter("SELECT * FROM MyContacts ", connection);
            SqlCeCommandBuilder builder = new SqlCeCommandBuilder(adapter);
            adapter.Fill(data, MyContacts);
            return data;

What happends if the table exists (its structure is present) but there are no records?