Wed, 30 Jan 2002 13:02:54 -0600
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We've run into this with SQL-based mail merge. To get around it we
defined in our database or in our SQL query so that whenever there's a
null field, replace it with a space. So our default value for most of
our fields is " ".
Hope that helps.
Best,
Al Iverson
Dave wrote:
>
> We are running DBMS mail merge. A column of the table may be NULL.
>
> We find that if we use the substitution for that column, and its value is
> NULL, then the substitution is ignored.
>
> For example:
>
> //TO DD *
> SELECT SALUTATION, FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME FROM ....
> /*
> //DATA DD *,EOF
> ...
> Dear &SALUTATION; &FIRST_NAME; &LAST_NAME;,
> ...
>
> This works fine when SALUTATION is not NULL. But when it is NULL, the
> substitution text itself is printed, e.g.:
>
> Dear &SALUTATION; John Smith,
>
> I tried using a .BB conditional block to check the value of SALUTATION but
> it does not seem that I can check for NULL.
>
> Seems to me this is a bug, or at least unfriendly behavior.
>
> Is there any workaround for this (short of running two separate DISTRIBUTE
> jobs)?
>
> --
> Dave Rubin
--
Al Iverson -- [log in to unmask] -- Minneapolis, Minnesota
My spam-related website: http://www.spamresource.com/
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All opinions are mine alone unless I state otherwise.
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