Kenneth Gonsalves wrote:
> On Thursday 17 Mar 2005 1:50 pm, Phil Daintree wrote:
>
>
>>CREATE TABLE chartdetails (
>> accountcode integer DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
>> period integer DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL,
>> budget double precision DEFAULT (0)::double precision NOT NULL,
>> actual double precision DEFAULT (0)::double precision NOT NULL,
>> bfwd double precision DEFAULT (0)::double precision NOT NULL,
>> bfwdbudget double precision DEFAULT (0)::double precision NOT
>>NULL );
>
>
> although may be not relevant to your question, as i have noticed this
> before with mysql 'sql', what is the point of having a NOT NULL field
> that defaults to 0? the whole idea of a NOT NULL field is to have the
> value filled in compulsorily and having a default of 0 or '' defeats
> the purpose
Not necessarily. NOT NULL here helps to ensure you can add values
together without the risk of a null result. There are plenty of "amount"
columns that should be not-null (total spent, total ordered etc).
-- Richard Huxton Archonet Ltd