Taxonomies

Taxonomies are hierarchical subject lists used to describe items. They can be used for any Attribute which uses a hierarchical list.

Taxonomies are displayed on the BROWSE page where users can see what information has been indexed under each taxonomy term.

Your Name » System management » Taxonomies

Taxonomies are hierarchical with no limits to the number of hierarchical levels that can be created. You can create multiple taxonomies.

The taxonomies menu in System Management lists all current taxonomies, allows you to create new taxonomies, and links to the taxonomy editor.

Users without the “setup system” policy can edit taxonomies, subject to their permissions, from the pop up menu.

Your Name » Edit taxonomies

Setting up a hierarchical attribute

To create an attribute where the user selects from a hierarchical list, you need to set up a hierarchical attribute. These are made up of:

  • An attribute
  • An appropriately configured classification type
  • One or more taxonomies

The attribute and the type will generally have exactly the same name.

When creating a new taxonomy, the system can automatically set up all these elements for you:

Your Name » System management » Taxonomies » New taxonomy

Click “New taxonomy”, then enter

  • Name: Your taxonomy name
  • Type: Create a new type and attribute

Click “Edit terms” in the taxonomy information display, and create some terms in the taxonomy editor.

Manual taxonomy creation

In some cases, you may want to vary how the taxonomies are set up for your application. In this case you can manually create the taxonomy, as documented below.

Create type

Create a new classification type called “Example”.

Your Name » System management » Types » CLASSIFY

Click “New classification type”, then enter

  • Name: Example
  • Search names: example
  • “Hierarchical” and “Classification type” should both be checked

After creating the type, you’ll see a warning. This can be ignored for the moment.

Create attribute

Create a new attribute, again called “Example”.

Your Name » System management » Attributes

Click “New attribute”, then enter

  • Attribute name: Example
  • Search name: example
  • Data type: Link to other object as Lookup
  • Select ‘Example’ in the type list below

Create taxonomies

Create the taxonomy itself.

Your Name » System management » Taxonomies » New taxonomy

Click “New taxonomy”, then enter

  • Name: Example
  • Type: Use existing type – Example

Click “Edit terms” in the taxonomy information display, and create some terms in the taxonomy editor.

Add attribute to other types

You can now use your new Example attribute in other types, as you would with any other attribute.