Nullable Fields (SetNillable)

By default, Enterprise generates fields using non-pointer Go types (e.g. string, int, bool). These columns are defined as NOT NULL in the database schema.

To allow database columns to store NULL, you must declare them as nullable by chaining the SetNillable() method on the field builder.

Declaring Nullable Fields

Chaining SetNillable() changes the generated Go struct type to a pointer type, allowing the field to represent a nil value.

// db_models/account.go
func Account() *models.Table {
    return &models.Table{
        Fields: []models.FieldI{
            // Generates as: ID uuid.UUID (NOT NULL)
            models.UUIDField("ID"),

            // Generates as: Name string (NOT NULL)
            models.StringField("Name"),

            // Generates as: Surname *string (NULL)
            models.StringField("Surname").SetNillable(),

            // Generates as: MiddleName *string (NULL) with custom column name
            models.StringField("MiddleName").SetDBName("middle_name").SetNillable(),
        },
    }
}

Handling Nulls in Code

When using generated models, nullable fields are accessed using pointers. Getter and setter methods handle pointers appropriately.

Setting Nullable Fields

account := models.NewAccount(ctx, db)

// Set a non-null value
surname := "Smith"
account.SetSurname(&surname)

// Set to null
account.SetSurname(nil)

err = account.Create()

Reading Nullable Fields

To avoid nil pointer dereferences, always check if a nullable field is nil before dereferencing:

err = account.Get()
if err == nil {
    if account.GetSurname() != nil {
        fmt.Println("Surname:", *account.GetSurname())
    } else {
        fmt.Println("Surname is NULL")
    }
}

Null Filters in Predicates

For every nullable field, the generator emits predicate helpers to query for IS NULL and IS NOT NULL conditions:

• Is[FieldName]Nil() maps to "column" IS NULL

• Is[FieldName]NotNil() maps to "column" IS NOT NULL

list := models.NewAccountList(ctx, db)

// Find all accounts where Surname is NULL
list.Where(list.IsSurnameNil())
err = list.List()