[Dev] Units of measurement

[jb at integralive.org]

> Henrik Frisk <mail at henrikfrisk.com> wrote:
>
>> jb at integralive.org wrote:
>>
>> > 2. have the units table blank when the database is in its 'initial'
>> state,
>> > and add units as they are needed?
>> >
>> >     - the disadvantage of this is that to start with we have to enter
>> the
>> > unit details for every attribute that uses a previously undefined
>> > unit. It also means that we could end up with the units 'Hertz', 'Hz',
>> > 'Htz' etc. However, we could overcome this by having a set of 'core'
>> > units that we (the Integra developers) agree on, and people have to
>> > submit a request if they want a new (obscure) unit added, which we
>> > then approve.
>> >
>> > I favour 2, what do you folks think?
>>
>> So do I. Eventually we could have a little Web2.0 magic with
>> autocompletion in the Unit field. If a user insists on entering a unit
>> which doesn't exist in the database maybe we should allow it without the
>> extra request submission?
>>
> Hmmm, sorry, I replied too quickly on this. Forget what I said, I support
> your suggestion above Jamie, whatever the implementation will be later
> doesn't really matter at this stage...

Actually the 'Web2.0 magic' to the database UI was always in the back of
my mind to add at some  later stage (Integra 2?).

The problem with allowing users/module developers as opposed to 'Integra
core' developers (i.e. us) to arbitrarily add things like new units is
that without some kind of approval process, it would be difficult to avoid
silly duplications ('Hertz' *and* 'Hz') or erroneous units that don't make
sense... I'm guessing as well that adding new units isn't something that's
going to happen that often so a quick approval process might not be too
cumbersome? OTOH, maybe I'm not giving our potential users enough credit
for  being intelligent human beings ;-)

Jamie