# While using SQL query to write to database how to write NULL

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/while-using-sql-query-to-write-to-database-how-to-write-null/11306>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [March 3, 2016, 9:36am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/while-using-sql-query-to-write-to-database-how-to-write-null/11306 "2016-03-03T09:36:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vanko25](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a87d85/32.png) [@vanko25](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/vanko25)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 9:36am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/while-using-sql-query-to-write-to-database-how-to-write-null/11306/1 "2016-03-03T09:36:56Z")

</div>

Hello all,  
I am using the following script to write to sql table the data from few dropdown boxes. But if the selected value is blank it won’t write it down as NULL. Any idea how to do that? Here is the code:

[code]name = system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 8’).selectedStringValue  
department = system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 9’).selectedStringValue  
factory = system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown’).selectedStringValue  
offices = system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 1’).selectedStringValue  
type = system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 2’).selectedStringValue  
ppe = system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 3’).selectedStringValue  
risks = system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 4’).selectedStringValue  
housekeeping = system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 5’).selectedStringValue  
tools = system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 6’).selectedStringValue  
equipment = system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 7’).selectedStringValue  
comments = system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Text Area’).text  
date = system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Popup Calendar’).date  
date2=system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Popup Calendar’).datetostring  
a=system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown’).selectedStringValue  
b=system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 1’).selectedStringValue  
c=system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 2’).selectedStringValue  
d=system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 3’).selectedStringValue  
e=system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 4’).selectedStringValue  
f=system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 5’).selectedStringValue  
g=system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 6’).selectedStringValue  
h=system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 7’).selectedStringValue  
i=system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 8’).selectedStringValue  
j=system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 9’).selectedStringValue  
k=event.source.parent.getComponent(‘Text Area’).text

if (a == “” and b == “” and c == “” and d == “” and e == “” and f == “” and g == “” and h == “” and i == “” and j == “” and k == “”):  
system.gui.messageBox(“Fill in the form first!”)

else:  
insertQuery = “”“INSERT INTO [%s] ([Correction Action],[Department],[Date],[General Risks],[Good Housekeeping],[Location Factory Focus],[Location Offices & others],[Name],[PPE],[Safe Equipment],[Tools and Equipment],[Type])  
VALUES (’%s’, ‘%s’, ‘%s’, ‘%s’, ‘%s’, ‘%s’, ‘%s’,’%s’, ‘%s’, ‘%s’, ‘%s’, ‘%s’)”"" % (‘SUBO’, comments,department,date2,risks,housekeeping,factory,offices,name,ppe,equipment,tools,type)  
system.db.runPrepUpdate(insertQuery)  
system.gui.messageBox(“Your SUBO was added!”)

system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown’).selectedStringValue = None  
system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 1’).selectedStringValue = None  
system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 2’).selectedStringValue = None  
system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 3’).selectedStringValue = None  
system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 4’).selectedStringValue = None  
system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 5’).selectedStringValue = None  
system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 6’).selectedStringValue = None  
system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 7’).selectedStringValue = None  
system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 8’).selectedStringValue = None  
system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 9’).selectedStringValue = None  
system.gui.getParentWindow(event).getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Text Area’).text = None[/code]

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JGJohnson](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/jgjohnson/32/29582_2.png) [@JGJohnson](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/JGJohnson)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/while-using-sql-query-to-write-to-database-how-to-write-null/11306/2 "2016-03-03T14:09:33Z")

</div>

`if name == "":
    name = None`

However I would suggest doing it like this:

[code]window = system.gui.getParentWindow(event)  
name = window.getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 8’).selectedStringValue  
department = window.getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 9’).selectedStringValue  
factory = window.getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown’).selectedStringValue  
offices = window.getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 1’).selectedStringValue  
type = window.getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 2’).selectedStringValue  
ppe = window.getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 3’).selectedStringValue  
risks = window.getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 4’).selectedStringValue  
housekeeping = window.getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 5’).selectedStringValue  
tools = window.getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 6’).selectedStringValue  
equipment = window.getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Dropdown 7’).selectedStringValue  
comments = window.getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Text Area’).text  
date = window.getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Popup Calendar’).date  
date2= window.getComponentForPath(‘Root Container.Popup Calendar’).datetostring

values = [name, department, factory, offices, type, ppe, risks, housekeeping, tools, equipment, comments, date, date2]

# Replace empty strings with None

values = [x if x !="" else None for x in values]

# If all values are None then the form is blank

if values.count(None) == len(values):  
system.gui.messageBox(“Fill in the form first!”)

else:  
insertQuery = “”“INSERT INTO [%s] ([Correction Action],[Department],[Date],[General Risks],[Good Housekeeping],[Location Factory Focus],[Location Offices & others],[Name],[PPE],[Safe Equipment],[Tools and Equipment],[Type])  
VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)”"" % ‘SUBO’  
system.db.runPrepUpdate(insertQuery, values)  
system.gui.messageBox(“Your SUBO was added!”)  
[/code]