Cannot write nulls to the database

[retorquere]

If I try to pass a point like this to write_points, I get an error (the payload generator generates GPS.city=)

{ timestamp: point['time'], series: 'car', tags: { license: tags['license'] }, values: { 'GPS.city' => nil } }

[dmke]

Currently, that's intended: you simply cannot store null values. (I've stumbled upon this myself, see influxdata/influxdb#6150).

For the moment, I recommend using something .select{|_,v| !v.nil? } (or .compact if ActiveSupport is available) on the hash you pass to write_point/write_points.

If you really need this in several places and projects, we could discuss an omit_nil_values option for InfluxDB::Client.

[retorquere]

It's more that I actively want to overwrite existing values with nulls. Some values that come into the database are invalid data on analysis, and I'm looking for a way to remove them or to mark them as invalid.

[dmke]

I see.

Maybe it's easier to store raw and analyzed data in different measurements (that is what I do)?

[retorquere]

I have that (of sorts), but it would still require recalculation of the whole (quite large) derived measurement when the algorithm changes for any one of the fields. But if InfluxDB doesn't allow for it, there's nothing much the ruby interface can do.

[dmke]

Indeed. Maybe influxdata/influxdb#6150 is too broad and you should to file a different issue.