On Sat, 30 Jun 2001 11:41:57 +0200 (CEST) Dieter Maurer <dieter@handshake.de> wrote:
If I were a purist, I would answer: no.
The name error could come from a nested call that incidentally uses the same name for a variable as a request argument.
Granted. But I have just been thinking: the dtml-var tag does support python expressions. And its "missing" attribute is quite similar to the "optional" of dtml-sqltest, don't you think? The "missing" attribute works only when a variable name is provided. It has no effect on python expression: if noVar is not defined: <dtml-var noVar missing=""> returns nothing, <dtml-var "noVar" missing=""> raises a NameError. So for consistency, we can do the same with the dtml-sqltest tag: it would accept python expression, and the "optional" would work only with variable names, not python expressions.
If I were a Zope maintainer, I would answer: no.
The feature is rarely used and if it is, there is a way to do it with existing DTML means:
Well, of course it is not being used much, since it is not implemented... ;o) Anyway, I guess it all depends on what you use Zope for. As far as I am concerned, many of the Zope projects I have been involved in included heavy database queries. So I used that "feature" (with the workarounds we described) quite a lot.
But your point was: The feature is used in the Zope book, thus, apparently, it was useful. The question: "why not implement the feature rather than change the book".
Exactly. I think that this feature should be implemented for: o consistency with other tags, o consistency with the Zope Book (DTML *REFERENCE*!) o and its usefulness to people like me ;)
Maybe, DC says something about this....
Cheers! -- Yves-Eric Martin yemartin@yve.net