I hate negative fieldnames

Doug Sims — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 15:16:41 -0500

Just had to dive into an un-named co-worker's code to look at an issue. Please never name your boolean fieldnames in the negative, I may have to interprit your code and I have no patience for these antics!

here is the scenario:

there is a negativly named field in the DB named boo_nonsmoker.

here is the Radio Button code block

<input type="radio" name="boo_flex_nonsmoker_NewValue1" value="F" <cfif not BooleanIsTrue(qryEmployee.boo_flex_nonsmoker)>checked</cfif>>
“I certify that I am a non-smoker.”
<br>
<input type="radio" name="boo_flex_nonsmoker_NewValue1" value="T" <cfif BooleanIsTrue(qryEmployee.boo_flex_nonsmoker)>checked</cfif>>I and/or my spouse is a smoker.

So in this scenario if they smoke, boo_nonsmoker gets set to true, making it really a flag for smokers, not nonsmokers.....it gets even more confusing when setting the default value...cfif not BooleanIsTrue nonsmoker.

even a monkey - rant

I hate negative fieldnames

here is the scenario:

oh, if only the field had just been named smoker instead.....