Testing for Nil Values

In MediTech Magic, we have Nil values which are like Null values in the relational database world. A nil value is the absence of a value. If a variable has a nil value, it doesn't even exist.

To test for a Nil value you cannot perform the following logic:

IF{/SOMEVALUE="" DO SOMETHING}

To test for a Nil value in a variable, you can concatenate a known value like a period to the variable and then check to see if the period and variable are equal. If they are equal, the variable had a Nil value. If the equation is not equal you know that the variable was not Nil. The following logic is one valid way to check for a Nil value:

IF{/SOMEVALUE_.=. DO SOMETHING}