[Zope3-Users] User data / metadata

[Gary Poster]

On Sep 28, 2005, at 7:03 AM, James Allwyn wrote:

> Hello list,
>
> A small 'conceptual' question...
>
> Both Stephan and Philipp's books recommend using principal metadata to
> store users' email addresses etc. If I intend to use the email
> addresses (and other contact information I want to store for the user)
> within the application (i.e., other objects will want to present it on
> screen), has it crossed the border from metadata to data, and would it
> consequently make sense to define principals with these attributes
> directly?

The distinction between data and metadata depends on the perspective  
from which you define your object's core contract.

That sentence may or may not have made sense. :-)  More concretely:

In Zope 3, a 'principal' is (currently) defined primarily from the  
perspective of security.  From that perspective, email is metadata.   
I'd leave it as metadata, myself.

Gary