G
Guest
How can I ensure that blank fields do not contain NULL values?
The reason I want to achieve this is that I use an "N" in a field to cut out
records that I don't want included in a mailing query. The query has <>"N"
as the criteria. Most of the records have a blank in this field; but,
unknown to me, eight out of 900 records had NULL in place of blank!
I expected that NULL would not be equal to "N" but <>"N" did not include the
records with NULL in this field. So my mailing list has excluded 8 records
that I expected to be used. I only discovered this by accident - should
listen to my own advice about rigorous testing!! I could use the Nz function
in the query but this seems like a complication. I don't know how just 8
records acquired a NULL value - but I want to make sure it doesn't happen
again!
The reason I want to achieve this is that I use an "N" in a field to cut out
records that I don't want included in a mailing query. The query has <>"N"
as the criteria. Most of the records have a blank in this field; but,
unknown to me, eight out of 900 records had NULL in place of blank!
I expected that NULL would not be equal to "N" but <>"N" did not include the
records with NULL in this field. So my mailing list has excluded 8 records
that I expected to be used. I only discovered this by accident - should
listen to my own advice about rigorous testing!! I could use the Nz function
in the query but this seems like a complication. I don't know how just 8
records acquired a NULL value - but I want to make sure it doesn't happen
again!