Regarding php at REMOVEMEkennel17 dot co dot uk's note below:

The phrase: "To get the correct behaviour", would perhaps be better off if it read: "To get the wanted (but not recommended) behaviour".

Always honor the expected data types for functions: sha1 expects a string as input, and returns a string on exit. NULL, TRUE and FALSE are not string data types. The string "" is a string as good as "any". By following the "logic" that sha1("") should return "", then what should sha1("a") return? "b"? "c"?

An authentication system that allows for blank passwords is not really an authentication system in the first place. What you are describing is merely a way to tell the application that you want to see data in some specific context, like sorted by user name, etc. Create other tools for this purpose and leave the authentication system to deal with what it is supposed to do: Granting users access to restricted data and blocking other users from seeing the same data.

Don't store passwords in clear text, but salt and encrypt them. That way it makes perfect sense having <?php $sStoredPwd === sha1($sStoredSalt . $_POST["sTypedPwd"]); ?>, even with a blank "password". No other person than the user itself, not even the programmer, should know the password or be able to guess it. If the user forgets the password, a new one must be generated.

Regards,
Erling