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Topics#Reports & DashboardsQuestion de Francis Pindar
Francis Pindar (AdminToArchitect.com / NetStronghold) a posé une question dans #Reports & Dashboards
19 mars 2014, 12:32

Reporting on records that have a blank field return no records if the fields is required but if it isn't required it does?

Now I don't know if this is a bug or has always been like this. But if you create some records with a blank field in them and then do a report asking me to report on all records where this field is blank I get a list of those records.

 

Now if I then say that this field is required and then run the report again you don't get any records in your report. Yet the fields are still blank.

 

Odd? normal functionality?
14 réponses
  1. Damien Owen (Deloitte Digital)
    19 mars 2014, 12:59
    Hi Francis,

     

    When you say you make the field requried - I guess you mean field level settings?

     

    Maybe it's something to do with the way the reporting engine optimises how it queries the database. Query optimisers always make lots of assumptions that will allow them to figure out how much work they have to do. They are also looking for ways to avoid scanning scanning records in the database as it is a costly activity in terms of system resources. Maybe if  the query optimiser comes across a field that is required and also has a filter to only include records with blanks - it assumes that the query should always return no results and therefore doesn't even bother to perform the query to save resources. That makes sense but it obviously overlooks the scenario you have created where the field is made mandatory after some records have been created with blank values. In database terms your database is corrupt because you have some records that are not conforming to a database constraint.

     

    On the other hand it could just be a bug :)

     

    I certainly have not come across it before.

     

    I would be tempted to raise a case. If you do please let us know what comes of it.

     

    Thanks

     

    Damien
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