At the risk of either repeating myself or making myself unpopular I would also say that _most of the time_ a column that allows nulls is poor design.
Yes, I know it can't always be helped but _usually_ some unlikely number can be used for "unknown" and text can easily be set for "unknown". Thus forcing the user to make a choice even if it's "I don't know". I'm sure that this is better than "I can't be bothered to decide" - at least you know it's a positive unknown rather than an unfilled field. I can't say that I do not have any column in any database that can be null but I always try to make it part of the design. When I do find that I _think_ I need a null column it usually means that the table needs to be split into two tables. Just my two-pennyworth, Regards, Alastair. ----- Original Message ----- From: "James (Jim) Bentley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2002 2:13 PM Subject: Re: EQNULL > Bill, > > Well said!! This discussion seems to popup now and then on this > forum. I seem to recall that Microrim put this feature in to > accommodate one of its biggest customers. Perhaps it is time > to move this feature into the "undocumented" category and eventually > remove it from RBase. I for one have this set to OFF and try > as much as possible to adhere to coding to SQL standards. > > -- > Jim Bentley > American Celiac Society > [EMAIL PROTECTED] - email > (973) 325-8837 voice > (973) 669-8808 Fax > > > ---- "Bill Downall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Thom, > > > > If you want to use a "standard", it should be OFF. Then you > > conform to > > the 3-value logic of the SQL Standard: a null (or unknown) value > > cannot > > be considered "equal" or "not equal" to any other value, not > > even > > another null (or unknown) value. It is tested with the operators > > "IS > > NULL" and "IS NOT NULL." Setting EQNULL ON is for your own > > convenience, if you have a hard time figuring out how to design > > your > > database and code you applications within that standard. > > > > Bill > > > > On Mon, 22 Jul 2002 22:27:11 -0400, Thomas J Cimicato wrote: > > > > >What is the prevailing thought on the use of the EQNULL setting?? > > >Should you code for it ON or OFF as a standard? (Off seems > > to be > > the > > >default in the rbase.cfg file. ) > > > > > > > > > > > > ================================================ > > TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: > > Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l > > ================================================ > > TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l > > ================================================ > > TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/rbase-l%40sonetmail.com/ > > > ================================================ > TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: > Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l > ================================================ > TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l > ================================================ > TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: > http://www.mail-archive.com/rbase-l%40sonetmail.com/ ================================================ TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: INTRO rbase-l ================================================ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body, put just two words: UNSUBSCRIBE rbase-l ================================================ TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: http://www.mail-archive.com/rbase-l%40sonetmail.com/
