Rails core - Jun 2007 - xml_serialization.rb maybe shouldn't output empty/nil for boolean values?

I noticed that to_xml on an ActiveRecord object that has a boolean
attribute, but that boolean attribute is nil, will serialize out an
xml entry of type boolean but without a value; it''s just empty.  This
is even the accepted behavior that is tested with
NilXmlSerializationTest''s test_should_serialize_boolean.

However, the w3c''s xml schema spec on datatypes has something like
this:

"An instance of a datatype that is defined as boolean can have the
following legal literals {true, false, 1, 0}."

So should xml_serialization.rb force all booleans to true/false
instead of allowing for the empty version of the field?

If it should compute_value could just have a:

elsif type == :boolean
            value == true

in there?


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Ruby on Rails: Core" group.
To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
rubyonrails-core-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

I don''t know if we should follow the W3C data type for this. While it
is a strictly correct
interpretation of "boolean", it is also common practice in the object
world to rely on nil as a
third boolean state... that of not knowing.

I have seen lots of places where a boolean was used to represent some choice,
and nil indicated that
the choice had not yet been made. If it is required that a given boolean field
always be either true
or false, that is a validation concern.

My .02...

Ben

inkling wrote:
> I noticed that to_xml on an ActiveRecord object that has a boolean
> attribute, but that boolean attribute is nil, will serialize out an
> xml entry of type boolean but without a value; it''s just empty. 
This
> is even the accepted behavior that is tested with
> NilXmlSerializationTest''s test_should_serialize_boolean.
> 
> However, the w3c''s xml schema spec on datatypes has something like
> this:
> 
> "An instance of a datatype that is defined as boolean can have the
> following legal literals {true, false, 1, 0}."
> 
> So should xml_serialization.rb force all booleans to true/false
> instead of allowing for the empty version of the field?
> 
> If it should compute_value could just have a:
> 
> elsif type == :boolean
>             value == true
> 
> in there?
> 
> 
> > 
> 

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Ruby on Rails: Core" group.
To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-core@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
rubyonrails-core-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-core?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---