How to select rows where column value IS NOT NULL using CodeIgniter's ActiveRecord?

Question

I'm using CodeIgniter's Active Record class to query the MySQL database. I need to select the rows in a table where a field is not set to NULL:

$this->db->where('archived !=', 'NULL'); $q = $this->db->get('projects'); 

That only returns this query:

SELECT * FROM projects WHERE archived != 'NULL'; 

The archived field is a DATE field.

Is there a better way to solve this? I know I can just write the query myself, but I want to stick with the Active Record throughout my code.

Answer 1

where('archived IS NOT NULL', null, false) 

Answer 2

The Active Record definitely has some quirks. When you pass an array to the $this->db->where() function it will generate an IS NULL. For example:

$this->db->where(array('archived' => NULL)); 

produces

WHERE `archived` IS NULL  

The quirk is that there is no equivalent for the negative IS NOT NULL. There is, however, a way to do it that produces the correct result and still escapes the statement:

$this->db->where('archived IS NOT NULL'); 

produces

WHERE `archived` IS NOT NULL