Report parameter isNull() parsing error, detecting if users input parameters

This is working for me in a report parameter expression.

 if( isNull(Null),3,0)

I created a parameter userSelectedShift.
I wrote null in the expression, and the text changed color so I thought the keyword was accepted. Datatype is set to long.
Then I tried this expression, but I get an expression parse fail.

 if( isNull({userSelectedShift}),3,0)

I mainly want to either use values from user selected values or use values from calculated values in the report parameters.
I need to be able to detect when a user has not entered a value.
Maybe I will use a dummy value instead of null.


The dummy values worked.