[hibernate-dev] case, coalesce, nullif; but no NVL/ISNULL

HQL and JPQL define support for case expressions (both simple and searched), as well as the 2 "abbreviated" SQL CASE forms nullif and coalesce. However, we do not currently have a standard form for NVL/ISNULL. Part of the problem is that SQL does not define such an abbreviated form either. And while most vendors have such an abbreviated form, they are all named something different, NVL and ISNULL being the 2 I am familiar with. But its such a generally useful construct, I wonder if we should define support for it in the base Dialect as well. Not sure which name to use tbh. NVL is a bit obtuse, ISNULL sounds more like a function returning a boolean. Thoughts? -- steve(a)hibernate.org http://hibernate.org