[Kolab-devel] RFC: "gender" field in contacts

[Bernhard Herzog]

On Monday 31 March 2008 19:22, Thomas Jarosch wrote:
> during tests of the Kolab driver for horde's contact manager (turba)
> I've noticed the "gender" field is somewhat unspecific. The kolab format
> documentation defines it as
>
> "<gender>(string, default empty)</gender>"
> (http://www.kolab.org/doc/kolabformat-2.0rc5-html/c266.html)
>
> Turba's Kolab driver writes out "0" for male and "1" for female.
> Outlook uses "0" for unspecified, "1" for female and "2" for male.
> Kontact doesn't seem to have the gender field (by default).
> (or is there a field somewhere hidden I've just overlooked?)
>
> Personally I like the way with 0=>unspecified, 1=>female and so on.

I think it would be better to use either single letters (m, f) or to spell it 
out (male, female).  Both are preferable because their meaning is reasonably 
obvious.  With integers you always have to consult the documentation to 
figure out what they mean.  To indicate an unspecified gender, leave out the 
gender element altogether or leave it empty.


   Bernhard

-- 
Bernhard Herzog                              Intevation GmbH, Osnabrück
Amtsgericht Osnabrück, HR B 18998             http://www.intevation.de/
Geschäftsführer: Frank Koormann, Bernhard Reiter, Dr. Jan-Oliver Wagner
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