Multivalue attributes

[jamal]

I downloaded Ultra Recall yesterday and have been looking at the samples and reading the help content to understand the concepts/design so I can get a good overall handle on how to approach my application. So far I am impressed by the tool's capabilities and flexibility.

One of the first issues that comes up in implementation is the trade-off between multiple databases and a single database. I prefer a single database for the advantages it offers in integration, searching and maintenance. In this context I have the following questions.

1. Would it be possible to assign multiple values (from predefined value list) to a String type attribute? E.g., I want to define a category called Content Classification (or Knowledge Classification) and define attributes such as domain, subdomain, topic, subtopic etc. Then I want to be able to assign *multiple* values for those attributes from a list such as {finance, health, travel, technology, literature, music, legal, professional, personal, family, journals etc.}

2. If you assign a string of space delimeted words to a String type attribute, e.g. "health travel," will UR match the individual words in a search? For instance, if I later search for items having an attribute value of only "health," will that item show up in the search result?

I must say that the combined Template/Category/Attribute schema already is flexible and powerful. This should help in designing large databases with less clutter.

Regards,
Jamal

[PureMoxie]

Yes, you can limit string value choices to a predefined list.

I prefer to use "Auto-complete values from other items" in most cases, however. This lets you dynamically build the list as you assign values to items.

The answer to your second question is also yes.

Have fun!

[PureMoxie]

A couple of other thoughts:

I would consider using the data explorer tree hierarchy for your domain, subdomain, topic, subtopic scheme - the benefit being both that you can visualize the data and that by using logical linking you can have items appear in multiple points in your classification.

Also, if you are looking for a way to just "tag" items with keywords, you might want to use the item notes pane for that.

[jamal]

Thank you Chris for your replies.

First question was if I can select and assign MULTIPLE values from a list to a string attribute. For example, if the list is:

technology
finance
psychology
travel
health

Then, I want to select technology, travel and health (multi-select) and assign those three (multiple) values to the attribute. I tried it today, but couldn't multi-select from the list of values. Another way would be to assign the same attribute more than once with different values - in this example I would perform three assignments: first technology, then travel and then health. This is also not possible as documented in the help content.

As for the second question, yes, you are right: it is possible. Using the comparison operator "contains keyword" I was able to get search hits on any part of the string.

The reason I would rather avoid doing it in the data explorer is to keep the size and clutter of the tree to minimum possible.

--Jamal