Hi, Wilfried ! "Wilfried Woeber, UniVie/ACOnet" <woeber@cc.univie.ac.at> writes: * = "Mike Norris" <mnorris@hea.ie> writes: * = * * = * Good idea, Ambrose. I presume the asterisk is a * = * place-holder and will appear in the case of attributes * = * that are neither look-up nor inverse keys? * = * =Yes. The aim is to make the output easier to read. I * =suppose an "-" character or a blank space could be used * =instead. I will think about it. * * I'd ask you to come up with a somewhat consistent format. A blank by * itself doesn't sound like a good idea from the SW engineering point of * view. * * How about having the brackets anyway, but no tag inside, or a hyphen, or * an asterisk. I think it would be easier to parse in the end, if we can * expect a constant number of (non-blank :-) fields. This appears to be the consensus so far. It would make writing tools easier if the number of fields was constant. So the output would look like route: [mandatory] [single] [look-up key] descr: [mandatory] [multiple] [] or route: [mandatory] [single] [look-up key] descr: [mandatory] [multiple] [-] I appreciate your taking the time to send your comments. Thanks. If you have anymore questions, please contact <ripe-dbm@ripe.net>. Regards, Ambrose Magee ____________________________ RIPE Database Administration. * * Wilfried. * -------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Wilfried Woeber : e-mail: Woeber@CC.UniVie.ac.at * Computer Center - ACOnet : * Vienna University : Tel: +43 1 4065822 355 * Universitaetsstrasse 7 : Fax: +43 1 4065822 170 * A-1010 Vienna, Austria, Europe : NIC: WW144 * --------------------------------------------------------------------------