Value "present but null" vs Empty

[Aaron-P]

In HL7 section 2.5.3.0, Field or Component Status, it specifies that a field value of "" (e.g. |""|) is considered to be a null value and should not be used for any other purpose. In the parser, a field value of "" is returned as a string value of 2 double quotes, not a null string value.

[jaime-olivares]

That's a very weird one. I will review it soon.

[jaime-olivares]

Please provide a code snippet to demonstrate that behavior

[Aaron-P]

namespace Test
{
    internal class Program
    {
        public const string SampleMessage = @"MSH|^~\&|SENDING_APPLICATION|SENDING_FACILITY|RECEIVING_APPLICATION|RECEIVING_FACILITY|20110613083617||ADT^A04|934576120110613083617|P|2.7||||
EVN|A04|20110613083617||""""";

        private static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var message = new Message(SampleMessage);
            message.ParseMessage();
            var evn = message.Segments("EVN")[0];

            var expectEmpty = evn.Fields(3).Value;
            Debug.Assert(expectEmpty == string.Empty);
            var expectNull = evn.Fields(4).Value;
            Debug.Assert(expectNull == null);
        }
    }
}

[jaime-olivares]

Solved. Unit test added. Readme section added.
Published to NuGet as 2.10.