I want to add some values to an existing record. Problem is that both the existing value and the value to be added can be null.

Question

In a stored procedure (Oracle in my case), I want to add some values to an existing record. Problem is that both the existing value and the value to be added can be null. I only want the result to be NULL when both operands are null. If only one of them is null, I want the result to be the other operand. If both are non-null, I want the result to be "normal" addition.

Answer 1

You can use ISNULL for adding some null value, 

, so if you have 5 values

isnull(value1,0)+isnull(value2,0)+isnull(value3,0)+isnull(value4,0)

+isnull(value5,0)

 We have to use 0, where we get NULL value in it. otherwise its original value in SQL server.