diff --git a/src/includes/class/class.LSattribute.php b/src/includes/class/class.LSattribute.php
index 7e16406a..9f75b57b 100644
--- a/src/includes/class/class.LSattribute.php
+++ b/src/includes/class/class.LSattribute.php
@@ -454,14 +454,11 @@ class LSattribute extends LSlog_staticLoggerClass {
    */
   public function canBeGenerated() {
     $format = $this -> getConfig('generate_value_format', $this -> getConfig('default_value'));
+    self :: log_debug($this."->canBeGenerated(): format='$format'");
     return (
               (function_exists($this -> getConfig('generate_function')))
               ||
-              (
-                (is_string($format))
-                &&
-                (strlen($format) > 0)
-              )
+              !is_empty($format)
            );
   }