title: How can I check for a nil="true" value on XML that is passed back from webservice call?
body: <p>I am receiving xml from a webservice call that contains a <code>nil="true"</code>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;cacheEntry&gt;
     &lt;systemFK nil="true"/&gt;
  &lt;/cacheEntry&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I used the Flex DataService (webservice) wizard to create the service objects for the <code>cacheEntry</code> component.  This object will be serialized later on a different webservice call and stored in a database.</p>
  
  <p>I set a breakpoint on the <code>set SystemFK</code> method in the service object. It appears that the value passed in was an empty string!</p>
  
  <p>Allowing this value to be an empty string will cause problems in the webservice implementation in Java on the other side. Since the database value was null it is expecting a null in return, If I avoid setting this value, the serviceObject should send back a null which will make the database happy.</p>
  
  <p>My question is: How can I detect that a <code>nil = true</code> is present in the XML in order to avoid setting this value?       </p>