title: Hesitation about blank fields in access database
body: <p>I'm trying to get some values from a DB in *.accdb format from Microsoft Access. I'm writing a Java programa that using the proper jdbc driver gets values from the Access database.</p>
  
  <p>The query is this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT * FROM table_name
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I am able to retrieve all values that I need and I have no problem with that. The issue comes when I see that some (apparently, but I'm quite sure they are) empty fields on the file, are retrieved as "null" or "" (empty strings) for TEXT datatype columns when I convert the results to strings in Java.</p>
  
  <p>I analyzed the database looking for the default value of each column etc.. but I found no logical reason for retrieving null or "" for an empty cell. According to office support page:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>When a field contains no values, it contains a Null value or, <strong>for Text, Memo, or Hyperlink fields, a Null value or a zero-length string</strong>.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Then I see that empty fields can be returned in both types but I still can't understand <strong>the criteria</strong>.</p>