I assure you that if my usage could have been modeled with 2 states instead of 3, I would have disallowed "null" :)
Three value is _very_ useful. If I have to move this to an integer type, I will (yuck)... but really SQL allows this, the select-box allows this, it works for OTHER data-types. (I can have NULL dates that show up as blank in date_select helpers. I don't think anyone would suggest that I move to a text type to support a null date, since NO date isn't a date!). So, at this point, have we confirmed this is a bug? Even within ruby, we could model this as true/false/nil, right? -- David E. Cross On Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 11:34 AM, Marnen Laibow-Koser <li...@ruby-forum.com>wrote: > pepe wrote in post #962590: > >> [...]It's perfectly OK to have Boolean columns (or any columns) > >> be null-capable if the semantics of the data dictate that. > > > > Sure. However, in my experience most people make boolean columns null > > capable "just because" or because it's the default behavior of the DB > [...] > > That may be. For myself, I try to consider carefully whether I need > null values in a particular field, and what they mean. For booleans, > three states are often useful. > > > > > IMHO boolean columns are just a little different because of their very > > nature. > > I don't see the difference. Where do you see it? > > > Sure, they can be set to be null but I really don't see the > > advantage in it. > > I've run across cases where something was best modeled by SQL-style > 3-valued logic (for example, yes/no/maybe sorts of things). Why > *wouldn't* I use a nullable boolean field for that? > > > In my experience, if I set the column to default to > > either true or false (probably false all the time) and change it as > > needed things work much better and things get easier. > > For a true 2-valued boolean, that's also what I do. > > Best, > -- > Marnen Laibow-Koser > http://www.marnen.org > mar...@marnen.org > > -- > Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. > To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-t...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rubyonrails-talk+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<rubyonrails-talk%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-t...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en.
