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

[Steve Ebersole]

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 at hibernate.org
http://hibernate.org