saving spaces on a table

[ryetee]

Playing devils advocate

So why not force them to put something a bit more 'meaningful' like 'N/A' or 'None'

Not sure if I've replied to this but if I do that I then have to cater for reports/forms where it should be blank

 

[ryetee]

A slightly different view of this. What is the associated business rule?
If it is a required entry, and you have set Required = True, then have the user enter data.
As others have said, perhaps N/A is appropriate. But a stored space???? If you could store it, how would display it????

What does this all mean in "business terms"? Database should support the business.

See my later reply to posts why I want to do this. If I can store a " " I will display a " ".

 

[kevlray]

Of course not that it would help in this situation. You could always store a non-printable character in the database since it seems that what rtytee wants. It would take up space but be 'invisible' for viewing.

 

[ryetee]

Of course not that it would help in this situation. You could always store a non-printable character in the database since it seems that what rtytee wants. It would take up space but be 'invisible' for viewing.

I think it could help but decided to go down the route of displaying an are you sure message.