Re: Show NULL values AS <NULL> not working

Hi Andy

On 14/01/2008, Andy Shellam <andy(dot)shellam-lists(at)mailnetwork(dot)co(dot)uk> wrote:
> Hi Dave and team,
>
> Another slight bug (I think):
>
> I have a table which has a column called "first_invalid" which should be a
> timestamp if the record is invalid, or NULL if it's valid.
> In PgAdmin I have the "Show NULL values as <NULL>" option enabled, but it
> still displays a blank cell for this column.
>
> The reason why I think it may not be a bug, is I tried doing this:
>
> "SELECT COALESCE(first_invalid, '<NULL>') AS first_invalid FROM table"
>
> but PostgreSQL threw it out because "<NULL>" is not a valid timestamp -

Right - thats what I'd expect.

> instead I had to do:
>
> "SELECT COALESCE(first_invalid, '1900-01-01') AS first_invalid FROM table"
>
> to prove the column is in fact NULL, and I do get: "1900-01-01 00:00:00+00"
> for this record, but in the data entry grid, PgAdmin still displays it
> blank.

That doesn't prove it's null - it proves it's null OR 1900-01-01
00:00:00+00. However, the <NULL> output option is onlt for the Query
Tool. The data entry grid always displays an empty cell for NULL, ''
for a blank string, and \'\' for a pair or single quotes. From the
docs:

Show NULL values as <NULL>? - This option will cause NULL values to be
shown as <NULL> in the Query Tool's results grid.

http://www.pgadmin.org/docs/1.8/options-tab3.html

Regards, Dave.