Smart Folks:
I use JDBC to produce simple XML entities such as this one:
<awardtype>
<entity_type>AWARDTYPE</entity_type>
<movie_id>0</movie_id>
<award_id>31</award_id>
<festivalId>1</festivalId>
<id>awardtypes::31:1</id>
</awardtype>
The XML entities are stored in file and loaded by the
FileListEntityProcessor.
In this case, the "movie_id" element has a value of zero because the JDBC
getString("movie_id") method returned null. I can search Solr for
entities of this type (i.e. query on "entity_type:AWARDTYPE") and get back
the appropriate result set. Then, I want to transform the result set into
JSON objects with fields that map to XML elements.
Today, I have to teach the JSON mapping that it should convert 0 to
JSONObject.NULL on a case-by-case basis -- I actually keep a mapping
document around that dictates whether a zero should be handled this way.
In some cases though, a zero may be legitimate where null values are also
legit. Sure, I could always change the zero to a less likely integer or
such...
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But doesn't Solr and the Data Import Handler have a better way to read a
null value from an XML entity during import, AND to represent it in search
results? Do I need a different approach depending on my field's type?
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I apologize if this is an asked and answered question. None of my web
searches turned up an answer.
Thanks,
David
