Hi Mark,
> impact to the users of the API be if setting a property to null DIDN'T
> remove it
> I believe that the API would be more intuitive to most
It would make things a lot more complicated for everybody:
- What would Property.getBoolean and so on return for NULL?
- Would you suggest to add a new property type NULL?
- What would Property.getType return for a property that had a type
and is now NULL?
- What would the type of a property be if it was set to NULL initially?
- Query: You would need to add null handling
(check for NULL, check for property not set)
- Now we have 4-value-logic (SQL has 3-value-logic):
You would need to define the logic table for 4 possible cases:
true, false, value not set, property does not exist
- To make it consistent, you would need to remove the
'compact value arrays with null' (N.setProperty("P", new Value[]{null}, type))
What would the type of 'value lists' with all NULLs be?
- Constraints. Currently a property is 'optional'
Now we have to add a new dimension: 'nullable' or 'not nullable'.
- What would Property.getLength() return for NULL?
- What would Value.toString return for NULL?
Thomas
