README.md

@@ -518,12 +518,15 @@ tokens add cost in proportion to the output.
   need a per-column `kind`, a parallel scalar system in a format whose promise is
   "text means what it says". A column's check digit, number or id is still
   valid-by-construction through a builtin; it is serialized as text.
-- **A record's columns share one reference draw.** Two columns that reference one
-  category — `{/currency.code}` beside `{/currency.symbol}` — read one draw of it,
-  so a record's facts agree the way a template's [correlated
-  fields](#correlated-fields) do. Only references share across columns: a sibling
-  field is local to its own column, so `first` does not silently bind to a
-  `first` in the column next to it.
+- **A record shares one reference draw per category.** Two columns that reference
+  one category — `{/currency.code}` beside `{/currency.symbol}` — read one draw of
+  it, so a record's facts agree the way a template's [correlated
+  fields](#correlated-fields) do. The draw is one per record, so it spans a
+  column's `repeat` and nested templates too (one record is one coherent unit);
+  a bare reference — `{/currency}`, no field — stays an independent draw every
+  time, the rule a format string already follows. Only references share: a sibling
+  field is local to its own column, so a `first` column does not silently bind to
+  a `first` in the column next to it.
 - **Filling a Go struct is out of scope.** `Record.Fields()` returns the columns a
   caller maps onto a struct themselves. gofakeit's `fake:"{firstname}"` tags
   reflect over an arbitrary struct type and cast into its fields — a different

record.go

@@ -88,17 +88,17 @@ func quoteIdent(s string) string {
 }
 
 // Record renders a path as one record: the template it names, with each direct
-// field drawn as a column. A path naming a folder or a value that is not a
-// template — a bare string or a choice, which have no fields — is an error.
+// field drawn as a column. Only a category-level template is a record — a path
+// that descends into a field, or that names a folder or a choice, is an error.
 func (f *Generator) Record(path string) (*Record, error) {
 	f.mu.Lock()
 	defer f.mu.Unlock()
-	n, err := descend(f.rand, &group{children: f.categories}, strings.Split(path, "."))
+	_, n, tail, err := resolveRef(f.categories, strings.Split(path, "."))
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("fejkdata: %s: %w", path, err)
 	}
-	if _, ok := n.(*group); ok {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("fejkdata: %s names a folder, not a value", path)
+	if len(tail) > 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("fejkdata: %s descends into %q, a field; only a category-level template is a record", path, tail[0])
 	}
 	t, ok := n.(*template)
 	if !ok {

record_test.go

@@ -139,6 +139,19 @@ func TestRecordSQLInsert(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestRecordRejectsFieldDescent(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := writeData(t, map[string]string{
+		"cat": `{"format":"{sub}","sub":{"format":"{x}","x":"1"}}`,
+		"row": `[{"format":"{x}","x":"1"},{"format":"{x}","x":"2"}]`,
+	})
+	f := newGenerator(t, dir, WithSeed(1))
+	for _, path := range []string{"cat.sub", "row.x"} {
+		if _, err := f.Record(path); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "field") {
+			t.Errorf("Record(%q) = %v, want a 'descends into a field' error", path, err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestRecordSharesAReferenceAcrossColumns(t *testing.T) {
 	dir := writeData(t, map[string]string{
 		"currency": `[{"format":"{code}","code":"AUD","symbol":"$"},{"format":"{code}","code":"EUR","symbol":"€"}]`,
@@ -169,6 +182,24 @@ func TestRecordSharesAReferenceAcrossColumns(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestRecordSharesAReferenceIntoAColumnRepeat(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := writeData(t, map[string]string{
+		"currency": `[{"format":"{code}","code":"AUD"},{"format":"{code}","code":"EUR"}]`,
+		"order":    `{"format":"","codes":{"format":"{/currency.code}","repeat":3,"separator":"-"}}`,
+	})
+	f := newGenerator(t, dir, WithSeed(1))
+	for i := 0; i < 50; i++ {
+		r, err := f.Record("order")
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		parts := strings.Split(r.Fields()[0].Value, "-")
+		if len(parts) != 3 || parts[0] != parts[1] || parts[1] != parts[2] {
+			t.Fatalf("codes column = %q, want one shared draw across its repeat", r.Fields()[0].Value)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestRecordSQLQuotesIdentifiers(t *testing.T) {
 	dir := writeData(t, map[string]string{
 		"row": `{"format": "", "postal-code": "1", "street-number": "2"}`,