IsNull Function in PeopleSoft MetaSQL

In MS SQL Server, sometimes we will use queries like this to avoid the NULL value to be populated

SELECT ISNULL(TABLE1.COLUMN1,'IT IS NULL')
FROM TABLE1

Similarly, in Oracle Database, we can use this:

SELECT NVL(TABLE1.COLUMN1,'IT IS NULL')
FROM TABLE1

However, in PeopleSoft Meta-SQL, we shall use the function %COALESCE to do the same thing

SELECT %COALESCE(TABLE1.COLUMN1,'IT IS NULL')
FROM TABLE1

Below is the syntax explanation from People Book.

%COALESCE

Syntax

%COALESCE(expr1, expr2, ...)

Description

Use the %COALESCE function to return the first non-null argument provided to the function.

Note. This meta-SQL function is not implemented for COBOL.

Parameters

expr1. . .exprn

Specify the expressions to check.

Note. You cannot specify bind parameters using these expressions.

Example

The following example uses the PRODUCT_INFO table to organize a clearance sale of products. It gives a 10 percent discount to all products with a list price. If there is no list price, the sale price is the minimum price. If there is no minimum price, the sale price is 10.

SELECT product_id, list_price, min_price, %COALESCE(0.9*list_price, min_price, 10)⇒
 "Sale" 
from PRODUCT_INFO
where SUPPLIER_ID = 6009;