webMethods

In on premise webMethods I can set a property to $null in a transform pipeline. How do I do this in the cloud version?

Double-click the variable to open the set value dialog. Don’t enter a value, but make sure “Include empty values for string types” is checked.

That’s not null, that’s an empty string, no?

@bastiaanr – can you clarify exactly where you are specifying $null? This “magic” literal cannot be used to set anything. It can be used to check if a var is null in a BRANCH in some other cases.

Setting a string var to “” is not equivalent to null. Such a var will not match $null.

If you need a var to be in the pipeline and explicitly set to null (which is rare – usually just drop the var) you can create Java service that accepts an input var that holds the name of the variable you want to create with a null value. But really, should just drop the var.

If you have more details about your specific scenario, the guidance can be refined.

Thank you for the answers. I’m talking about the cloud version of webMethods and want to set an attribute to null in a transform pipeline. I want it null because I want that the attribute still exists in the document but has no value. In my preference the existance attributes in a document is the same at runtime and design time.

If empty string works for you, go for it. Using null for a purpose other then checking if it exists or not is usually a bad idea. Even if your document validation requires it, I recommend updating your schema to accept empty string and use it that way. null is not a value, and it shouldn’t be used as value.

Sure, but just keep in mind that null and empty string are not the same. As such, a var set to “” will not match $null.

Hi Bastiaan Rodenburg,

on cloud platform use “” to set null property.
see this implementation I’ve done earlier.

Hope this will help you!

Regards,
Zainul Abideen

That is not null. That is an empty string. That will not match $null.

But if it does match in iPaaS with something like

BRANCH on ‘/leaveType’
…$null: SEQUENCE

Then that is good to know. But it is does not behave that way in Integration Server on-prem. An empty string is not the same as null.