What is the best method to handle an instance where there is no record for the polymorphic object.
user_type A table ( user_id , username )
user_type B table (user_id , username )
event table (event_id, user_id, user_type )
Sample Data
A_table user_id , username 1 , sam 2 , john
B_table user_id, username 1, Don 2, Mike
Event_table event_id, user_id, user_type 1,1,A // Record 1 2,2,B // Record 2 1,5,A // Record 3
Consider the following pseudo code :Event instance ->user->username
1) Running the above for Record 1 Should result in "Sam" 2) Running the above for Record 2 Should result in "Mike"
Imagine a 3rd case :
Where as "Event instance ->user" results in NULL.
How do we best tackle a situation like this apart from having to always check if the Object is null or not before every instance we use it.