Default value for String in PostgreSQL

Question

I'm trying to make an table, with few properties in it. My model is Account has description property, which, by default is supposed to be "No description available for this account"

CREATE TABLE accounts
(
...
description VARCHAR DEFAULT 'No description available for this account',
...
);

In an controller description is only set if it's not empty and not equals to "\n" like that

if(!description.isEmpty() && !description.equals("\n"))
{
  account.setDescription(description);
}

After the app runs I get a table of accounts, but the property description still equals null, with no default value. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Postgres sets default value only when no value is provided + NULL value is not allowed for the column.

1. Handling at DB level:

In table creation script

description VARCHAR DEFAULT 'No description available for this account' NOT NULL

This will make update all the existing records as well

2. Handling in code Initialize the description property with the default value(Ideally sourced from a Constants file).

private String description = "No description available for this account";

Also put a NULL check on the setter method.