Need to understand the difference between the usage of the rules APN_isEmpty and APN_isBlank

Question

Hi, 
 
 Could someone clarify my doubt about difference between the usage of the rules APN_isEmpty and APN_isBlank? 
 It would be good if a simple example is illustrated to make it simple to understand. 
 
 Thanks 
 Faisal

Mike Schmitt · Answer

Note that these are now largely unnecessary thanks to the new rules a!isNullOrEmpty() and a!isNotNullOrEmpty() . 
 As far as the two you've named - isBlank() is meant to determine whether a singular value is blank or null, while isEmpty() is meant to determine whether an array is completely empty. For instance, an array with a single null is not considered empty, but would (iirc) show up as "blank". 
 In the past though it was important to use these helper rules because there were some odd corner cases in the primitive rules that would break. I don't remember many exact examples off the top of my head. There was no direct way to do isEmpty() but by doing i.e. "length(ri!value) = 0", which itself fails when the value is null (instead of an empty set), so the helper rule handled null-checking. The new functions I named at the top of this reply handle all that stuff pretty gracefully as far as I can tell.

Mike Schmitt · Answer

I was able to create a consolidated fresh 21.4 export of both the original legacy APN_isBlank and APN_isEmpty rules (But only these two), along with all necessary precedent folders. PFA. 
 Legacy APN Common Objects - isBlank and isEmpty (consolidated 21.4 export).zip

Mike Schmitt · Answer

Faisal H Faridi said: What is "singlePV" 
 I don't see this exact term used anywhere prior in this thread, or even at Stefan's link - can you clarify what you're referring to? Without any other context I'd guess it's referring to a PV of "single" type, i.e. not an array (aka "multiple"), but that's just a blind guess at this point.

Mike Schmitt · Answer

Search old posts - I (among others) may have posted small app packages here or there containing just these or a similarly small set of the old common objects rules.

Need to understand the difference between the usage of the rules APN_isEmpty and APN_isBlank

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