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_item.mandatory_code can be undefined!

Peter Keller (bsspak@bath.ac.uk)
Wed, 9 Aug 1995 19:38:39 +0100 (BST) 

Dear all,

In DDL 2.1, _item.mandatory_code for _item.mandatory_code itself is 'no'
(if you see what I mean). This means that _item.mandatory_code does not
have to be specified for a dictionary item. But, if it isn't, there is no
default value in the DDL to apply to the dictionary item! This makes no
sense, if you think about it, because it is either necessary or
unnecessary for an item to be determinable (implicitly or otherwise).
There is no third possibility. 

By analogy with _category.mandatory_code, I guess that 
_item.mandatory_code for _item.mandatory_code should be 'yes' . An 
alternative, which is less likely to break anything, would be to add 

    _item_default.value   no

to save__item.mandatory_code in the DDL.

Regards, and sorry about the recursion,
Peter.

========================================================================
Peter Keller.            \ 
Dept. of Biology and      \ "Not even the greatest nonsense is beyond
    Biochemistry,          \  the reach of human invention."
University of Bath,         \ 
Bath, BA2 7AY, UK.           \          --- Ryszard Kapuscinski
------------------------------\-----------------------------------------
Tel. (+44/0)1225 826826 x 4302 | Email: P.A.Keller@bath.ac.uk (Internet)
Fax. (+44/0)1225 826449        |   P.A.Keller%bath.ac.uk@UKACRL (BITNET)
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