id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	priority	milestone	component	version	resolution	keywords	cc	blockedby	blocking	notify_on_close	platform	project
3575	Make format_name optional in bundle_info.xml database fetch provider tag	Tom Goddard	Eric Pettersen	"The format_name provider tag attribute for fetching database files does not make much sense.  The fetching code returns models and not files so it is mysterious why it wants a format name.  A fetch could use a REST API that does not involve a file.  But omitting the format_name causes ChimeraX not to start.  Another case are fetches like rcsb_bio for biological units that may get two formats, mmCIF or old PDB format.  The format_name tag currently does not allow specifying more than one format.

    <Provider name=""rcsb_bio"" type=""fetch"" format_name=""mmcif"" example_ids=""6ts0"" />


Eric has explained that format_name was historical from older fetching code but that it is currently used to decide if the fetch should set the session.in_script flag when fetching the file, and also the log collating flag, based on whether the format is annotated as being a script or needing log collation.  These would be better handled by provider tags ""in_script"" and ""collate"" or alternatively let the fetching code itself set those flags if needed.

The FetcherInfo class fetch() method also takes a mandatory format_name argument which is confusing and should be an optional argument."	enhancement	assigned	moderate		Input/Output								all	ChimeraX