Using NULL as a Parameter
See Also
Passing a null value as a parameter affects the behavior of many commands and functions in Visual FoxPro. The following general rules apply to null values passed to commands and functions:
- Commands generate errors when passed a null value.
- Functions that accept .NULL. as a valid value propagate .NULL. to the result.
- Functions that accept parameters that could be numeric values generate an error if you supply .NULL. for those parameters.
STORE .NULL. TO n
USE Mytable ALIAS &n && Expected a workarea
&& name or number
? SUBSTR("Hello, world",n,5) && Expected a position
&& in the string
- ISBLANK( ), ISDIGIT( ), ISLOWER( ), ISUPPER( ), ISALPHA( ), and EMPTY return false (.F.) when passed a null value. ISNULL( ) returns true (.T.) when passed a null value.
- The commands INSERT - SQL and SELECT - SQL process null values through the IS NULL and IS NOT NULL clauses and, in the case of INSERT, UPDATE, and REPLACE, place null values into records.
- SQL Aggregate functions ignore instead of propagate null values.
- Visual FoxPro aggregate functions only propagate .NULL. if all supplied values are null values; otherwise, any null value is ignored.
For more information on using null values in your application, see Chapter 7, Working with Tables, in the Programmer's Guide.