NULL Handling (SQLXML 4.0)

XML syntax denotes NULL as an absence. (For example, if an attribute or element value is NULL, that attribute or element is absent from the XML document.) In Microsoft SQLXML, the updg:nullvalue attribute enables specifying NULL for an element or attribute value.

For example, the following updategram ensures that the Title value for a contact with BusinessEntityID of 64 is NULL, and then updates the Title value to "Mr." for this contact.

<ROOT xmlns:updg="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-updategram">
  <updg:sync updg:nullvalue="IsNULL"  >
    <updg:before>
       <Person.Person BusinessEntityID="64" Title="IsNULL" />
    </updg:before>
    <updg:after>
       <Person.Person BusinessEntityID="64" Title="Mr." />
    </updg:after>
  </updg:sync>
</ROOT>

When parameters are passed to an updategram, NULL can be passed as the parameter value. This is done by specifying the nullvalue attribute in the <updg:header> block. For an example, see Passing Parameters to Updategrams (SQLXML 4.0).