[freeside-devel] default configuration values

[Ivan Kohler]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2007 at 12:59:37PM +0200, Mathieu Dimanche wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> As I'm trying to have the address State field optional (in france, we 
> really don't care about this information, but it is required and have us 
> loose time while creating a new customer),

To back up just a little bit; rather than create a new configuration 
value turning off the state requirement, all you need to do is remove 
the multiple entries for FR in the cust_main_county table, leaving only 
one, with blank state and county fields.

> I ran into the FS::Conf object and have seen a behavior I find rather 
> awkward.
> 
> Default configuration values are not defined in the FS:Conf object but 
> are hard-coded everywhere the value is fetched. Couldn't there be a 
> "defaultvalue" key in the config_items array ?

Sure, that's a good idea.

> then, the FS::Conf would 
> return (in priority order)
> * the value found in the correct conf/file
> * the value in the base
> * the default value in the config_items array (if specified)

Not sure what you mean by the first two items here (and configuration is 
stored in the database now).  Wouldn't it be:

1. the agent-override config value (from the db)
2. the global config value (from the db)
3. the default value (from config_items)

> I think this behaviour would be must more appropriate.
> 
> What do you think ?
> 
> Mathieu
> 
> PS : What's the difference between FS::Conf in Conf.pm and FS::Conf in 
> Conf_compat17.pm ?

In 1.7.x, configuration is kept in the filesystem.  In 1.9.x, 
configuration is kept in the database.

Conf_compat17.pm in 1.9 is for reading 1.7-style configuration values 
out of the filesystem.  This is used for testing purposes, to help 
ensure that configuration is consistent across the upgrade.

> If one is deprecated, should it be removed ?

Eventually, yes, once we don't need to worry about upgrades from 
1.7.x; in the next development branch after 1.9.x.

> Which should receive updates ?

Conf.pm

-- 
_ivan