[Babase] Possible Babase mistake (Biograph table)

Karl O. Pinc kop at meme.com
Wed Dec 10 12:44:29 EST 2008


On 12/10/2008 08:49:55 AM, kfenn wrote:
> 
> DIC1 and WIR3 were the only two I found with a blank rather than a  
> NULL name.  This does not affect queries per se... Babase treats  
> NULLS as blanks and when you query for nulls or even just sort by  
> name , you see the text output with all the NULLS as blank spaces  
> (WIR3 and DIC1 are put in with the nulls).  However, I put the nulls  
> in to make it look nice when you are browsing the table.

There is a bit of a distinction between blank and NULL,
sometimes it can be important.  See:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/functions.html#FUNCTIONS-LOGICAL
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/functions-comparison.html

> 
> I frequently upload pregnancies as individual files when two  
> pregnancies occur in the same update period and I'm constrained by  
> the pregnancy, mtd_cycle validations of chronology.  These two were  
> input in that way during the first update I did in Babase 2.0 and I  
> probably didn't specify the 'null' in the upload program.

Do we need a rule saying SNAME should be NULL under this conditions?

> Susan Alberts wrote:
>> Lacey and Tabby, is this on your list of things to fix?
>> Thanks,
>> Susan
>> 
>> On 5 Dec 2008, at 12:20, Catherine Markham wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi Lacey and Tabby,
>>> 
>>> I noticed that there are (at least) 2 pids in Biograph who have a  
>>> null sname but not a null name (there name is simply blank).  Both  
>>> appear to be abortions (birth date = death date and sex unknown).   
>>> I'm guessing there name should be null and not blank?  That seems  
>>> consistent with other records, but I could certainly missing  
>>> something obvious.
>>> 
>>> Anyway, the 2 pids that came up in my query are DIC1 and WIR3.  I  
>>> haven't searched for others.
>>> 
>>> Catherine
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Babase mailing list
>>> Babase at www.eco.princeton.edu
>>> http://www.eco.princeton.edu/mailman/listinfo/babase
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Susan Alberts, Department of Biology, Duke University, Box 90338,  
>> Durham NC 27708 USA,  Phone 919-660-7272, FAX 919-660-7293,  
>> alberts at duke.edu
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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>> Babase at www.eco.princeton.edu
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> 
>-- 
> Tabby Fenn
> Research Assistant
> 
> Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
> 401 Guyot Hall
> Princeton University
> Princeton, NJ  08544
> 
> 609 258-6898 (Ph)
> 609 258-2712 (Fx)
> 
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> 

Karl <kop at meme.com>
Free Software:  "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
                  -- Robert A. Heinlein



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