How to pass null values in an XML request
- Last Updated: July 16, 2025
- 1 minute read
- Corticon
- Version 6.3
- Documentation
Passing a null value to any Corticon Server using XML payloads is accomplished in the following ways:
| Vocabulary Type | Passing a null in an XML message |
|---|---|
| An attribute of any type | Omit the XML tag for the attribute, or use
the XSD special value of xsi:nil='1' as the attribute's value. |
| An attribute except String types | Include the XML tag for the attribute but do
not follow it with a value, for example, <weight></weight> or simply <weight/>. If the type is
String, this form is treated as an empty string (a string of
length zero, which is not the same as null). |
| An association | Do not include an href to a potentially associable Entity (Flat
model) or do not include the potentially associable role in a
nested child relationship to its parent. |
| An entity | Omit the complexType from the payload entirely. |
XML Payloads with null values created by Rules
When Rules set a null value that propagates into the payload of a request, XML treats the null as follows
Assume that the incoming payload is...
Person
Age : 45
Name : Jack
... and that rule processing sets Age =
null.
The output would remove
Age from the
payload like this:
Person
Name : Jack