Re: TEXT datatype?

}From: Colin McGrath <cmm@trac3000.ueci.com> }Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 21:04:54 -0400 (EDT) }X-Informix-List-Id: <list.5995> } }Jim, } } You CAN test via ISQL for the condition that a TEXT column is NULL (RTFM). } } SELECT ... FROM ... WHERE myfield is NULL ... } IF w_rec.myfield is NULL ... } IF w_rec.myfield is NOT NULL ... } } You can also select via a FORM for records where a TEXT column is }NULL. (Just put a naked '=' in the field during the query.) For }absolutely no good reason though, the construct routine won't convert }'<>' nor '!=' entries in a TEXT field into a "myfield is NOT NULL" string }during a query. I think it is bug # 23491. Maybe its been fixed }in a later 4GL version than 4.1 Actually, it is bug B23999, which in turn is a DUP (duplicate) of B17985. B17985 was fixed in 4.13 and 6.01 I4GL (asserted COD-PRE which means it may have been fixed in a 4.12/6.00 release, though I think not). Please note that 4.10 is pretty old and that 4.11, 4.12, and 4.13 have all been released. A statement about version 4.1 is usually misleading -- at the least, it is imprecise and should normally be interpreted as meaning 4.10 rather than 4.1x (a generic problem in the family of releases). Additionally, you can select substrings of text blobs: SELECT text_col[1,30] FROM text_table WHERE ... You cannot use the sub-string in the where clause -- I haven't checked ORDER BY and GROUP BY clauses. Yours, Jonathan Leffler (johnl@informix.com) #include <disclaimer.h> }} I understand that I can't do a "query" on a TEXT datatype column, but }} does this mean I can't test it in any way for an entry? }} }} I'm writing a report for which a TEXT field might be empty and I would }} like to note this fact with appropriate logic but can't find any test }} on the column that will work with I-SQL. }} }} I can, of course, always print the column and accept a blank entry some }} of the time ........can I deal with this in 4GL? }} }} ## ####### ## ## Jim Kistler }} ## ## ## ## kistler@hp-and.an.hp.com