name for a mutually inclusive relationship

Frank Millman frank at chagford.com
Thu Feb 25 00:44:57 EST 2021


On 2021-02-24 6:12 PM, Ethan Furman wrote:
> I'm looking for a name for a group of options that, when one is 
> specified, all of them must be specified.
> 
> For contrast,
> 
> - radio buttons: a group of options where only one can be specified 
> (mutually exclusive)
> - check boxes:   a group of options that are independent of each other 
> (any number of
>                   them may be specified)
> 
> - ???: a group of options where, if one is specified, all must be 
> specified (mutually
>         inclusive)
> 
> So far, I have come up with:
> 
> - the Three Musketeers
> - clique
> - club
> - best friends
> - tight knit
> - group
> 
> Is there a name out there already to describe that concept?
> 

I have something vaguely similar, but my approach is different, so I 
don't know if this will be helpful or not.

Take an example of a hospital admission form. One of the fields is 
'Sex'. If the answer is Male, then certain fields are required, if the 
answer is Female, certain other fields are required.

There can be more than one such occurrence on the same form. A field for 
'Has Insurance?' could require insurance details if True, or payment 
method if False.

I construct a dialog for each possibility, with all the fields 
associated with that possibility.

Initially the dialogs are hidden. When the selection is made, the 
appropriate dialog is shown.

The controlling field can have multiple options, so rather than a 
check-box, it is the equivalent of a radio-button.

The term I use for this arrangement is 'sub-types'.

Frank Millman


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