O$: Null Fields

[Keith Bartlett]

On 21 Apr 2009, at 17:03, Peter van Rooij wrote:

> If you do not want to use nulls, don't use them but keep in mind :  
> there is a big difference between a value null an an empty value.  
> The last has been assigned and the first was not.



Is there?  In real life maybe there is and maybe there isn't.  If you  
are adding a set of records to get the total for, say an invoice, does  
it make any difference to the total if some of the values are NULL  
rather than zero?  Different thing if you are doing some statistical  
analysis of course.
We don't store any NULL's in our database, except for dates in db's  
that don't allow blank dates, so before any insert, update we do a  
simple sendall to set every NULL field to '' or 0 depending on its  
type.  Works for us, maybe not for everyone.

Cheers
Keith



Keith Bartlett
Adnet Ltd - (0)1491 642133
www.adnetltd.co.uk


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