[Zope-dev] Reading an external database using a zope ZSQL method

Michel Pelletier michel@digicool.com
Sat, 04 Sep 1999 03:18:39 -0400


Jim Penny wrote:
> 

> 
> res._data_dictionary.items() yields:
> 
> [('request_number', {'width': 14, 'name': 'request_number', 'type': 't'}),
> ('description', {'width': 11, 'name': 'description', 'type': 't'}),
> ('qty', {'width': 3, 'name': 'qty', 'type': 't'}),
> ('item', {'width': 4, 'name': 'item', 'type': 't'})]
> 

> A careful reader might look at the _data_dictionary entries and be
> concerned about width.  Do I really want item to be only 4 wide?
> This is in fact a problem of the Postgres DA.  The DA does not
> return the actual width of each entry; it returns the width of the
> name.  I suspect that this cannot be corrected. But this is beside
> the point.
> 

It doesn't matter anyway, 'with' and most other things in
_data_dictionary are just some meta_data to comply with the Z Search
Interface.  ZCatalog, for example, also defines an _data_dictionary. 
The 'width' field is used in the autogeneration of forms, it has no
further meaning.  It has no effect on result objects.

-Michel