ItemFileReadStore should have an option to assume a flat data store

[Phil DeJarnett]

ItemFileReadStore? currently assumes that it might be loading a hierarchical data store, and loads any object as a nested item within the containing item.

Even though this is the "expected" behavior, this can cause problems in two ways:

1) New users to the system attempting to store complex data into a node are often confused as to why a simple object has been changed (such that the properties of that object have all been converted to arrays). There are at least 2 filed-and-closed bugs in the database already about this.

2) If a developer is switching between different DataStores?, for example, the QueryReadStore? and the ItemFileReadStore? depending on need, completely different and unexpected things happen. (In my case, I use a QueryReadStore? for displaying values in a Grid, and ItemFileReadStore? when those items are being edited on a different page. They are both served by the same server-side controller.)

Since only ItemFileReadStore? supports the complex typeMap, that isn't a very good solution in 2, and is overly complex in 1. In many ways, the store has been overcomplicated for a less-common usage, namely hierarchical stores.

I propose a new property on ItemFileReadStore?, flatStore, which defaults to false (for compatibility). When this is true, the isItem method should always return false, preventing value-items from being added as a child node, and instead they are simply stored as a single value (or array of values) for the item.

[Jared Jurkiewicz]

It's not only expected behavior, it's highly documented behavior and is described in detail, with examples, in ItemFile?*Store documentation and in the dojo.data faq:

​http://docs.dojocampus.org/dojo/data/ItemFileReadStore ​http://docs.dojocampus.org/quickstart/data/usingdatastores/faq (​http://docs.dojocampus.org/quickstart/data/usingdatastores/faq#question-9-in-one-of-my-items-in-itemfilereadstore-i-defined-an-attribute-value-as-a-javascript-object-when-i-access-it-through-store-getvalue-it-has-been-modified-why)

I'll think on this and debate if it should be done.

[Jared Jurkiewicz]

Patch to allow disabling of parsing 'child' object structures as items.

[Jared Jurkiewicz]

Same patch for AndOr? store.

[Jared Jurkiewicz]

Fixed in revisions: [17245] and [17246]