xlat expansion of absent VPs

[Alan DeKok]

Matthew Newton wrote:
> Having empty attributes replaced by "_" could be incredibly
> annoying depending on the circumstance. But then I hope I'd also
> have the sense to check what I'm doing to make sure that if an
> attribute did end up empty it was handled correctly.

  Not everyone does that.  I think being fail-safe is best.

> And what happens if an attribute actually has the value "_"?
> Unlikely I guess, but possible?

  It's possible.

> Couldn't it just be configurable? Something just like
> 
> xlat_empty_attribute = "_"
> 
> for default, but could be set to any string? Gives some possible
> protection by default, but can be overridden if needed in a global
> way.

  The alternative is to fail the expansion entirely, and return an error.

  That is MUCH preferable to silently expanding to an empty string.

  I'll let people here decide.

  Alan DeKok.