Attribute Types
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iKnowBase Meta Modelling Reference Dimension Types

Attribute Types

You can use attribute types to categorize and retrieve content. Attribute types enable you to define the metadata that can be associated with the content. You can create your own attribute types or use attribute types that are available by default. You can associate various attribute types with an information type.

You must associate every attribute type with a data type that defines the type of metadata that the attribute type can store.

Attribute Type Properties

This section describes the properties of an attribute type, as shown on the corresponding Edit pane.

Property Description
Name

Type a name for this attribute type.

Prompt (language)

Type a label and description for this attribute type. One entry per supported language.
Subsystem

Choose a subsystem in which this attribute type is used.
External key

Type an additional identifier for this attribute type. An external key is used in code that integrates external services with this iKnowBase attribute type.
Indexed

Select this check box to make this attribute type indexed and thereby searchable using free text search.
Searchable

Select this check box to make this attribute type searchable for advanced searches.
Viewable

Select this check box to make this attribute available in the list of attributes while creating a presentation style.

Insertable

Select this check box to make this attribute type available in the list of attribute types while creating a form.
Updateable

Select this check box to allow the user to change the value of the attribute type in a form.

This property is used as a predefined value while creating a form based on an information type that is associated with an attribute type.
Inheritable

Select this check box to enable subdocuments to inherit this attribute type from the master information object.
Datatype

Click the appropriate data type for the value of this attribute type. Available options are:

  • CHAR: Stores characters.
  • CLOB: Stores character set data.
  • DATE: Stores point-in-time values (date and time).
  • DIMENSION: Stores references to dimensions.
  • DOCUMENT_FIELD: Stores system attribute types. Note: It is not possible to create or delete attribute types of this data type.
  • DOCUMENT_LINK: Stores references to related information objects.
  • EXTERNAL: Stores references to data in a source that is external to iKnowBase. The purpose of external attribute types is to be able to tag iKnowBase information objects with metadata which are defined outside of iKnowBase, ie. in another system. These attributes can be used as ordinary iKnowBase attributes in Viewers, Forms and Search Sources. They require an external source, which contains procedures to support lookups and value lists. See iKnowBase Development Guide for information on how to implement this.
  • FILE: Stores binary data.
  • NUMBER: Stores fixed and floating-point numbers.
  • PICTURE_LINK: Stores references to information objects containing images.
  • VALUELIST: Stores values from predefined value lists.
  • USER: Stores user identification.
  • ACL: Stores access control list information.
  • DOCUMENT_TYPE: Stores information type.
Length

This property is available when you select the Char and Number data types.

Type the maximum number of characters that the user can store for the Char data type or the maximum number of numbers that the user can store for the Number data type.

Value list

This property is available when you select the Value list data type.

Select the value list for this attribute type.
Document reference

This property is available when datatype is set to DOCUMENT_FIELD. It contains a reference to the column in the DOCUMENT table in which attributes for information objects will be stored.

Note: You cannot update the information of this property.

Max number of values

This property is available when you select the Dimension data type.

Type the maximum number of values that can be selected for this attribute type.

You can override this value while creating a form.
Dimensions

This property is available when you select the DIMENSION, PICTURE_LINK, and DOCUMENT_LINK data types.

Displays a list of dimensions which can be used for this attribute type. This limits which dimensions are selectable for an attribute in a form. The selected dimension(s) and their sub dimensions will be available.

Dimension types

This property is available when you select the DIMENSION data type.

Displays a list of dimension types which this attribute type is associated with. This limits which dimensions are selectable for an attribute in a form. Dimensions with the selected dimension type(s) will be available. If no dimension type is selected, all dimensions for the given dimension structure are available for this attribute type.
External source

This property is available when you select the EXTERNAL data type.

Type the external API source; <schema>.<api-package>. The API needs to contain procedures to support lookups and value lists. See Development Guide for further information.

Guid

Displays a globally unique identifier number for this attribute type. This property appears after you save an attribute type. You cannot update the information of this property.
Id

Displays a unique identifier number for this attribute type. This property appears after you save an attribute type. You cannot update the information of this property.
Created

Displays when the attribute type was created and by whom it was created.
Updated

Displays when the attribute type was last updated and by whom it was updated.

Tasks

See earlier chapter for information about common tasks like create, view, copy, update, and delete. This chapter describes specific tasks for attribute types.

Associating an Attribute Type with a Dimension

To add a dimension to an attribute type, perform the following steps:

  1. On the Edit pane for the attribute type, click on the action Add dimension.
  2. Search or navigate the dimension structure to find the dimension you want to add to the attribute type.
  3. Click on the appropriate dimension to select it.
  4. Click Save.

Note: Click on the Add multiple dimensions action if you want to add more than one dimension. The dimension navigator will remain open until you explicitly close it by clicking on the Close button. Each time you click on a dimension, this dimension will be added to the list of dimensions in the Edit pane.

To remove a dimension from an attribute type, perform the following steps:

  1. On the Edit pane for the attribute type, click on the remove action for the dimension you want to remove.
  2. Click Save.

To reorder the dimension list for an attribute type, perform the following steps:

  1. On the Edit pane for the attribute type, click on the up and down actions for the dimensions you want to move until the order of the dimensions is as you like.
  2. Click Save.

Associating an Attribute Type with a Dimension Type

To add a dimension type to an attribute type, perform the following steps:

  1. On the Edit pane for the attribute type, click on the action Add dimension type.
  2. Click on the select action for the dimension type you want to add to the attribute type.
  3. Click Save.

Note: Click on the Add multiple dimension types action if you want to add more than one dimension type. The window containing the list of existing dimension types will remain open until you explicitly close it by clicking on the Close button. Each time you click on the select action for a dimension type, this dimension type will be added to the list of dimension types in the Edit pane.

To remove a dimension type from an attribute type, perform the following steps:

  1. On the Edit pane for the attribute type, click on the remove action for the dimension type you want to remove.
  2. Click Save.

To reorder the dimension type list for an attribute type, perform the following steps:

  1. On the Edit pane for the attribute type, click on the up and down actions for the dimension types you want to move until the order of the dimension types is as you like.
  2. Click Save.
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iKnowBase Meta Modelling Reference Dimension Types