Unable to write null values to db

[colinl]

I find I am unable to push null values to the db. Sending a message {topic: some_topic, payload: null} results in the error
Error: {"error":"unable to parse 'tydwr value=null': invalid number"}
Here is a sample flow:
[
{
"id": "d1592df1.f9427",
"type": "inject",
"z": "e122f88c.3fc3c8",
"name": "",
"topic": "",
"payload": "",
"payloadType": "date",
"repeat": "",
"crontab": "",
"once": false,
"x": 189.5,
"y": 1141,
"wires": [
[
"8d921e96.1de868"
]
]
},
{
"id": "8d921e96.1de868",
"type": "function",
"z": "e122f88c.3fc3c8",
"name": "Null payload",
"func": "msg = {topic: "bedroom/radtemp", payload: null}\nreturn msg;",
"outputs": 1,
"noerr": 0,
"x": 377.5,
"y": 1140,
"wires": [
[
"e18ce4c0.21f96",
"eeb056ca.f8c358"
]
]
},
{
"id": "eeb056ca.f8c358",
"type": "debug",
"z": "e122f88c.3fc3c8",
"name": "",
"active": true,
"console": "false",
"complete": "true",
"x": 722.5,
"y": 957,
"wires": []
},
{
"id": "e18ce4c0.21f96",
"type": "influxdb out",
"z": "e122f88c.3fc3c8",
"influxdb": "55ac6d48.e3ffbc",
"name": "",
"measurement": "tydwr",
"x": 994,
"y": 469,
"wires": []
},
{
"id": "55ac6d48.e3ffbc",
"type": "influxdb",
"z": "",
"hostname": "127.0.0.1",
"port": "8086",
"protocol": "http",
"database": "tydwr",
"name": "localhost_tydwr"
}
]

[mblackstock]

Thanks for the report. I've reproduced the issue. Unfortunately, as I understand it, influxdb 1.0 and later does not support sending a point with null values. If you want to indicate that a value is missing, one suggested technique is that you use another field to indicate missing data.

https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v1.0/introduction/getting_started/ "...with InfluxDB, you can have millions of measurements, you don’t have to define schemas up-front, and null values aren’t stored."

see these links for more information.
http://glasnt.com/blog/2015/05/08/influxdb-and-nulls.html
influxdata/influxdb#2429
influxdata/docs.influxdata.com-ARCHIVE#717
influxdata/influxdb#454

This one discusses techniques for indicating missing data: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/influxdb/L2_JkanwwOY

Sorry!

[colinl]

How very odd that they should have removed this capability. Sorry for wasting your time.
Thanks for a very useful node by the way.

[mblackstock]

No problem at all! Yes, it is odd... let me know if you see any other issues or enhancement requests.