[postgis-tickets] [PostGIS] #2553: ST_OffsetCurve Documentation should explicitly mention variable return type

[PostGIS]

#2553: ST_OffsetCurve Documentation should explicitly mention variable return type
---------------------------+------------------------------------------------
 Reporter:  gturner        |       Owner:  robe         
     Type:  enhancement    |      Status:  new          
 Priority:  medium         |   Milestone:  PostGIS 2.1.2
Component:  documentation  |     Version:  2.1.x        
 Keywords:                 |  
---------------------------+------------------------------------------------
 In 99% of cases, ST_OffsetCurve returns a LineString, and this is the
 intuitive return type. However, in the remaining 1% of cases, it in fact
 returns a MultiLineString. (The fact that some of those appear to be
 unjustifiably so is probably another ticket!)
 In many cases, programmers would simply assign the output to a linestring.
 This will cause intermittent bugs when a Multilinestring is returned.
 The documentation should explicitly say that this may be the case,
 allowing a programmer to allow for that possibility.
 It would be good to illustrate this possibility with an example, such as a
 jigsaw-tongue type structure where the width of the narrow part of the
 tongue is less than twice the offset distance.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://trac.osgeo.org/postgis/ticket/2553>
PostGIS <http://trac.osgeo.org/postgis/>
The PostGIS Trac is used for bug, enhancement & task tracking, a user and developer wiki, and a view into the subversion code repository of PostGIS project.