Attributes

Before setting up the different Types required, create the Attributes each type will use. List all the Types for your organisation, and their Attributes. Create new Attributes for any you require that are not in the default schema. Haplo has a loose data model, and uses the same attribute in many Types so each attribute only has to be defined once.

Your Name » System management » Attributes

On the Attributes page you will see the default Attributes. To create a new Attribute click on New Attribute at the bottom of the page.

Attribute details

  • Attribute name: give a brief descriptive name of one or two words for this attribute.
  • Search name: used in the search constraints ie title:Hamlet (here title is the search constraint). This should contain only lower case letters, numbers and hyphens. By convention it is the same as the attribute name in lower case and with spaces replaced by hyphens.
  • Example: give an example showing how data should be entered into this attribute’s field. This is shown to the user when they tick Show examples when adding or editing an item.
  • Relevancy weight: state how important this attribute should be considered when compiling search results. 1.0 is normal weighting, 0.5 is half as relevant so would come lower down the search results, 2.0 is twice as relevant. The relevancy weighting range spans from 0.01 to infinity (though within Haplo the range used tends to be between 0.25 and 100.)

Setting the relevancy weight to 0 will exclude the attribute from indexing. Use this if you don’t want any search to match this attribute.

Attribute data type

Choose the type of data for this field from the drop down menu. This specifies the type of data to be entered in the field.

  • Text (single line): for just a few words
  • Text (paragraph): formatted with paragraph breaks
  • Rich text document: extra formatting ability
  • Address (postal)
  • Email address
  • File: the option to upload a file which is ‘attached’ to the object
  • ISBN: for books
  • Multiline text: similar to Text (paragraph) but without formatting such as paragraph breaks
  • Person’s name: for guiding users to enter names in the correct format. You can specify the formats allowed:
    • Western ie Mr David John Smith Jnr
    • Western list ie Smith, David John Smith, Mr
    • Eastern ie Kim, Gim
  • Postcode
  • Telephone number
  • Web address (URL): with inbuilt hyperlink
  • Integer: for whole numbers ie 1 not 1.4
  • Date and time
  • Link to other object
    • When you are linking to any object of the specified types, use the Lookup option, which provides an auto-completing field to search for items.
    • When you are linking to a small set of classification objects (see Lists), use one of:
      • Drop down of choices: A simple drop-down list box.
      • Radio boxes: A set of radio boxes, one for each option. Users can add another set of radio boxes using the + button.
      • Checkboxes: A set of check boxes, one for each option. Users can select zero or more options, and the + button is disabled.

Qualifiers

Select the qualifiers allowed for this attribute. For an explanation of qualifiers see the next section.

  • Qualifiers not used on this attribute: choose this if there are no relevant qualifiers
  • Allow any qualifier: use if any qualifier can be chosen for this attribute (unlikely to be used, in most situations the third option (below) is more appropriate.)
  • Allow the qualifiers specified below: choose the qualifiers allowed from the pre-compiled list, add a relevancy weighting for each qualifier (which takes precedence over the general weighting assigned to the attribute), the weighting should be between 0 and 100 with 1 being normal weighting.

Aliased attributes

Aliased Attributes display a standard Attribute field but with a different name. In some situations, while an Attribute accurately describes the data entered, the name is inappropriate in context. For example, the Subject attribute is used for People objects so that you can find people with an expertise on a particular subject, but it is more appropriate to present this attribute to the user as Expertise rather than Subject.

In these cases, you use an Aliased Attribute to rename the field in the object editor, so it makes sense and accurately describes what you need to enter.

Note that Aliased Attributes only affect the types for which they are explicitly applied. When adding a new object, a user can normally add any Attribute to any object, but cannot add an Aliased Attribute. For instance, the system only knows to rename ‘Title’ to ‘Name’ in the particular objects for which this is specified such as Person.

To setup an aliased attribute, click New aliased attribute:

  • Aliased attribute name: for use when display objects and in the editor
  • Search name: used in the search constraints. This should contain only lower case letters, numbers and hyphens. By convention it is the same as the aliased attribute name in lower case and with spaces replaced by hyphens.
  • Example: shows how data should be entered into this aliased attribute’s field
  • Alias on qualifier: tick and choose the qualifiers to use a different set of qualifiers from the base attribute.
  • Alias on type: tick and choose the type of data for this field from the drop down menu to use a different data type from the base attribute.
  • Alias on linked type: tick and choose Types of objects, to be used if the “Link to object” data type is specified above or by the base attribute.