Issue 4354: Confusing use of OrgTemplate (osf-ftf)
Source: Adaptive (Mr. Pete Rivett, pete.rivett(at)adaptive.com)
Nature: Revision
Severity: Significant
Summary: . In the OrganizationalEntity Module, OrgTemplate is typedef'd as OrgEntityProperty and is used for attribute values. In OrganizationalStructure module, however, it is not used for attributes (attribute templates are not supported in this module), but is typedef'd as OrgElementType and is used for element 'names'. In fact, this area gets confusing: OrgElement::name indicates the ElementType (e.g. 'Location') and OrgElement::value indicates the name (e.g. "Birmingham")!]. 
This multiple use of OrgTemplate has a practical problem: OrgTemplate has an attribute valid_descriptions: when OrgTemplate is typedef'd as OrgEntityProperty this does not make sense, since an actual Property just has a value not a Description.
Moreover since instances of OrgElementAttribute have a 'value_type' (numeric/alpha/alphanumeric), it seems an omission that OrgTemplates do not - to e.g. allow one to constrain an 'Age' attribute to be Numeric.

Resolution: 
Revised Text: 
Actions taken:
June 20, 2001: received issue
Discussion: 

End of Annotations:=====
Issue:  Confusing use of OrgTemplate
Source:  Adaptive Ltd. (Mr. Pete Rivett)
Nature:  Revision
Severity:  Significant
Summary:  . In the OrganizationalEntity Module, OrgTemplate is
typedef'd as OrgEntityProperty and is used for attribute values. In
OrganizationalStructure module, however, it is not used for attributes
(attribute templates are not supported in this module), but is
typedef'd as OrgElementType and is used for element 'names'. In fact,
this area gets confusing: OrgElement::name indicates the ElementType
(e.g. 'Location') and OrgElement::value indicates the name
(e.g. "Birmingham")!]. 
This multiple use of OrgTemplate has a practical problem: OrgTemplate
has an attribute valid_descriptions: when OrgTemplate is typedef'd as
OrgEntityProperty this does not make sense, since an actual Property
just has a value not a Description.
Moreover since instances of OrgElementAttribute have a 'value_type'
(numeric/alpha/alphanumeric), it seems an omission that OrgTemplates
do not - to e.g. allow one to constrain an 'Age' attribute to be
Numeric.
Resolution:
Revised Text:
Actions taken:


From: "Amy Griffis" <amygriffis@home.com>
To: <osf-ftf@omg.org>
Subject: Proposed revision for Issue 4354...
Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 16:47:59 -0700
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Issue 4354: Confusing use of OrgTemplate (osf-ftf)

Source: Adaptive Ltd. (Mr. Pete Rivett, pete.rivett@adaptive.com
<mailto:
pete.rivett@adaptive.com>)
Nature: Revision
Severity: Significant
Summary: . In the OrganizationalEntity Module, OrgTemplate is
typedef'd as
OrgEntityProperty and is used for attribute values. In
OrganizationalStructure module, however, it is not used for attributes
(attribute templates are not supported in this module), but is
typedef'd as
OrgElementType and is used for element 'names'. In fact, this area
gets
confusing: OrgElement::name indicates the ElementType
(e.g. 'Location') and
OrgElement::value indicates the name (e.g. "Birmingham")!]. This
multiple
use of OrgTemplate has a practical problem: OrgTemplate has an
attribute
valid_descriptions: when OrgTemplate is typedef'd as OrgEntityProperty
this
does not make sense, since an actual Property just has a value not a
Description. Moreover since instances of OrgElementAttribute have a
'value_type' (numeric/alpha/alphanumeric), it seems an omission that
OrgTemplates do not - to e.g. allow one to constrain an 'Age'
attribute to
be Numeric. 

Proposal:  Add a new struct in the OrganizationalEntity Module to
represent
templates for attributes.   Instead of typedef'ing OrgEntityProperty
to
OrgTemplate, make OrgEntityProperty a struct.  This would involve the
following changes to the text:
[1]  Replace section 4.11.2 with the following:

     4.11.2  OrgEntityProperty


struct OrgEntityProperty {
       string name;
       sequence<string> valid_values;
};

  OrgEntityProperty is a struct that defines the property metadata
information, such as the property name and valid values, for an
OrgEntity.
An example would be "company_car" as the property, with a list of
valid
values such as "Volvo", "Subaru", and "BMW".
[2]  Replace the IDL in Appendix A for OrgEntityProperty 
from:
typedef DfOrganizationalStructure::OrgTemplate OrgEntityProperty;
 to:
struct OrgEntityProperty {
			 string name;
				sequence<string> valid_values;
				};

[3]  Replace the IDL in bom/2001-02-02 for OrgEntityProperty 
from:  
typedef DfOrganizationalStructure::OrgTemplate OrgEntityProperty;
 to:

struct OrgEntityProperty {
			 string name;
				sequence<string> valid_values;
				};


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