Why is FreeMarker so picky about null-s and missing variables, and what to do with it?
To recapitulate what’s this entry is about: FreeMarker by default treats an attempt to access a non-existent variable or a null value (this two is the same for FreeMarker) as error, which aborts the template execution. First of all, you should understand the reason of being picky. Most scripting languages and template languages are rather forgiving with missing variables (and with null-s), and they usually treat them as empty string and/or 0 and/or logical false.
