Defining a null value in a report field with a text/character

Hi All,

I am working on a Webi report that has a object "Item" with a character datatype. This object has data values as well as null/blank rows. I want to create another report level variable , say "Item Desc" that will show "Y" for rows of "Item" that has data and "N" for rows that are null. I have tried the both of the below formulae-

Item Desc=if (isnull([Item])) then "N" else "Y"

and

Item Desc= if [Item]=" " then "N" else "Y"

When using both of them i get "Y" for "Item" rows that have data and nothing for rows of "Item" with null values

Can anyone please help me on this?

I am working on BOXI R3.1

Regards,

Argha