r5198 - trunk/gnue-common/doc/technotes

[jcater]

Author: jcater
Date: 2004-02-29 15:52:37 -0600 (Sun, 29 Feb 2004)
New Revision: 5198

Modified:
   trunk/gnue-common/doc/technotes/00012.txt
Log:
clarified the 'key' datatype in gnue-schema

Modified: trunk/gnue-common/doc/technotes/00012.txt
===================================================================
--- trunk/gnue-common/doc/technotes/00012.txt   2004-02-29 21:36:13 UTC (rev 
5197)
+++ trunk/gnue-common/doc/technotes/00012.txt   2004-02-29 21:52:37 UTC (rev 
5198)
@@ -74,9 +74,12 @@
 
 1.7 key
 -------
-This datatype is an alias for a database specific type, which could be used
-for storing key values.
+This datatype is meant to be a database-independent "key" type, used mainly
+for auto-populated primary key fields or their corresponding foreign key 
+fields in related tables.  When used with a primary key, usually the field 
+is also defined with a defaultwith="serial" attribute. 
 
 1.7.1 Values
 ------------
-Depending on the database type of the key-fields.
+Depends on the database.  With most databases, this is a sufficiently large 
+integer to handle a large number of rows (e.g., 64 bit integer.)