If it's NULL, why would you store it at all? Surely the lack of a value is NULL.
In SQL Server when they issue XML, they have an option for a way to represent NULL. Normally they just omit the attribute. They normally only do that in case someone is trying to derive the schema from the data. In that case, you want something to let them know there is a column but it currently has no value. For a table storage system (like an EAV system), why store anything? (Unless again, you're somehow deriving the schema from the data that's present). Regards, Greg Dr Greg Low 1300SQLSQL (1300 775 775) office | +61 419201410 mobile│ +61 3 8676 4913 fax SQL Down Under | Web: www.sqldownunder.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Thomas Koster Sent: Sunday, 6 March 2016 5:27 PM To: ozDotNet <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Azure Table query "not null" On 4 March 2016 at 18:03, Greg Keogh <[email protected]> wrote: > Folks, anyone using Azure Tables Storage in anger? I really like it, > simple and effective. > > What is the query syntax equivalent of SQL "not null", that is, a row > has a named property? I have a table with tens of thousands of rows, > but only a small percentage contains a property value named > ErrorMessage, and I want to select them only. Going ErrorMessage neq > "" works but it's too ugly to believe there isn't a better way. OData has a "null" literal, but I don't know if they have it in Azure Tables (I have not used it "in anger"). Have you considered including something in the RowKey so that you can distinguish these rows from the rest with a range query instead? -- Thomas Koster
