Here is sample code demonstrating the issue: test=# create table test_coalesce(f1 int not null, f2 date); CREATE TABLE test=# insert into test_coalesce values (1, null); INSERT 0 1 test=# insert into test_coalesce values (2, coalesce(null, null)); ERROR: column "f2" is of type date but expression is of type text HINT: You will need to rewrite or cast the expression. test=# create cast (text as date) with function date(text) as assignment; ERROR: cast from type text to type date already exists test=# create cast (text as date) with function date(text) as implicit; ERROR: cast from type text to type date already exists The last statement is not something which would make sense to hand code, but we have a framework which is plugging in the arguments for the coalesce function at run time. One solution to this is to modify the framework to wrap any null with a cast to a type. Due to the effort and risk of that approach, I'm looking for alternatives. Besides, the above just doesn't make sense to me. Any suggestions? -Kevin
