sybperl-l Archive

From: "Masatsuyo Takahashi" <freesemt at mail1 dot accsnet dot ne dot jp>
Subject: A patch proposal to the NULL-value problem on blk_rowxfer
Date: Jun 19 2002 3:05PM

Hi,

I'd like to propose a patch to fix the NULL-value problem on blk_rowxfer
recently posted by Hiroshi Yamada and answered by Martin Rieder.

I'll clarify the situation first, discuss what to fix, and then show the
patch.

THE CAUSE OF TROUBLE

The problem comes from the three silmilar but different states
of an array element, namely,

    (NA) where nothing is assigned yet
    (UD) where 'undef' has been assigned
    (NS) where null string '' ha been assigned.

In XS or C level, you can distinguish the above three states as follows.

    if (svp = av_fetch(av, i, 0)) {
        if(SvOK(*svp)) {
            if (SvPV(*svp,vlen) && vlen) {
                /* non-null string  */
            } else {
                /* NS */
            }
        } else {
            /* UD */
        }
    } else {
        /* NA */
    }

(I have appended a simple script which verifies this. The script uses Inline
module)


WHAT TO FIX

It seems to me that the work-around suggested by Martin is needed
just because CTlib.xs treats the above three states differently,
while Perl intends to see them equally.

Thus, I think, in a Perl-like way, it is fair for CTlib.xs to conform to
Perl.
That is, all the three states in Perl should be converted within CTlib.xs
into NULLs in Sybase.

    Perl(XS)    Sybase
    -----------------
    NA    =>    NULL
    UD    =>    NULL
    NS    =>    NULL


ONE POSSIBLE PATCH

If you agree, the patch is simple. It suffices to change only one line
in CTlib.xs as follows.

Change the line no. 7385 ( if it's sypperl-2.14_01) in blk_rowxfer func

    if (!SvOK(*svp)) {

to

    if (   !svp                        /* not assigned yet  */
        || !SvOK(*svp)             /* assigned an undef */
        || SvPV(*svp, slen) && !slen        /* assigned a null string */
    ) {

I hope this will solve the problem better.
Especially, without the "!svp" condition, it may cause memory faults
for 'NA(not assigned)' cases.


SMALL ANXIETY

Of the three conversion types, "NS(null string) to NULL" type might
break some legacy scripts.

But, it seems rare that you don't want columns to be NULLs when there's
nothing to store.

Is it acceptable, Guru Michael?

Masatsuyo.
--
Masatsuyo Takahashi, an adviser to Hiroshi Yamada.
freesemt@mail1.accsnet.ne.jp