Frank> 1. Don't use default values - create the document with all values Frank> filled in.
Frank> 2. Use python to check for missing values and fill in the defaults Frank> when processing the document. Frank> Or maybe the best practice is to *always* validate a document Frank> before processing it. Frank> How do experienced practitioners handle this situation? 3. Don't use XML. (sorry, couldn't resist) Skip -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list