A discrepancy in the specifications?

[John Samuels]

I find it quite strange that the UI specifications state, "[The UI] must allow the user to search the data for all records, or for records where the name and/or location fields exactly match values specified by the user." However, the specification for the find(String[]) method in the DB interface states, "A non-null value in criteria[n] matches any field value that begins with criteria[n]".

In other words, the search functionality of the UI cannot be written in terms of the DB interface, unless additional filtering is applied (one requires the criteria to match exactly, the other requires the criteria to match by prefix).

Thoughts?

P.S. what's with the "...or for records where the name AND/OR location fields exactly match values specified by the user"? Are they just trying to emphasize that it's not an XOR?

[Roel De Nijs]

It's indeed a discrepancy, but it's an intended one This difference in requirements just simulates a real world example where you have already an implementation of a service (which might be used by other applications) and a new business requirement (for an existing or new application) where you can use the existing functionality, but with some slight changes (filtering the results returned by the find-method)

P.S. what's with the "...or for records where the name AND/OR location fields exactly match values specified by the user"? Are they just trying to emphasize that it's not an XOR?

That's just about your interpretation. In my GUI a user can execute 3 different searches (1. name and location 2. name only 3. location only). Others have developed a GUI with 4 possible searches (1. name and location 2. name or location 3. name only 4. location only).