[thelist] Testing for the various NULL's (.end thread)

[rudy]

> (COALESCE is DB portable, as it is part of the ANSI SQL specification):

i don't disagree with this, however, i would like to caution people that
just because something is ansi sql compliant does not imply that you can use
it in your database

otherwise, ken's suggestion to replace nulls with empty strings in the query
itself is a good one, as it will cut down the extra code to test the results
for nulls

however, don't go overboard and assume that you can do this any time, any
place, because there are, after all, situations where null is required, and
should not be replaced with anything else, empty string or not

don'tcha just love nulls?  i certainly do, and i use them wherever
appropriate


rudy