Floating Point Field Constantly Updated in Change Log

[j.hendrickson]

Is it normal for fields of type Float to show a change to precision in the Change Log every time the item is updated, regardless of whether that field is changed or not?

For example, field "Target Profit Margin" is of type Float with precision 2.

The change log shows the following, with an entry for each time I edit Item Details then save, but without changing anything.

Date Time:11/20/2013 8:22:48 AM

Action: Edit Item

Description: Target Profit Margin: 1.380000000000 ⇒ 1.38

Date Time:11/20/2013 8:22:36 AM

Action: Edit Item

Description: Target Profit Margin: 1.380000000000 ⇒ 1.38

Date Time:11/20/2013 8:12:21 AM

Action: Edit Item

Description: Target Profit Margin: 1.380000000000 ⇒ 1.38

This is happening for all of the float fields in the workspace on the Item Details tab (that's the extent of my testing so far).

Thanks.

[jpiggee · Accepted solution]

Yes, this is normal behavior for a float field, yes.

The reason why has to do with how a SQL database (postgreSQL in our case) teats a float field.

SQL logic dictates a float field to be rounded to the precision of stated quantity then truncated and placed into the field as integer value, so every time the system thinks it is being edited it will always need to do this, regardless of whether it has been modified or not.

So, basically what you are seeing is the OCD of the SQL world in action, the field wasn’t changed but It must round up and truncate, then value and place it back into the field.

[j.hendrickson]

Okay, thanks. I think I'll submit this to the Idea Desk that these entries be omitted from the change log. Even if I can't make the argument that this is not a 'change' (because I guess at some level it is), I could make the argument that the change log is incomplete because it doesn't show the change back to the un-truncated value. You can't logically change from A to B then from A to B again without having changed back from B to A first. If the system is going to clutter my change log unnecessarily then it might as well do it correctly.

Thanks for the explanation.