NULL Attribute in XML Message

Null attributes in XML message have a special meaning for database components. A null attribute means the value of the element, either an element data or a value of the value attribute, is null, which is differentiated from an empty string.

For example, XML messages processed or generated by the database components have the following form:

<rowName>
    <columnName1 null="yes"></columnName1>
    <columnName2></columnName2>
    <columnName3>column value</columnName3>
</rowName>

<rowName>
   <columnName1 null="yes"></columnName1>
   <columnName2 value=""></columnName2>
   <columnName3 value="column value"></columnName3>
</rowName>

In either case, the result value for the columnName1 is null, while that for the columnName2 is an empty string.