User-Defined Attributes

A user-defined attribute is a custom attribute that you set up for an object type. You can define user-defined attributes to suit your processes.

A user-defined attribute consists of:

- Global properties

These are properties of the attribute that are independent of the assigned object type. Examples of global properties include the attribute name and maximum length.

- Local properties

These are properties of the attribute relating to the specific object type. Examples of local properties include the user prompt and default value.

For each object class, you can define a number of user-defined attributes in a base database. For an Oracle or SQL Server database this can be up to 996. For greater flexibility, Dimensions CM allows you to reuse the same attribute with different local properties across object types. This enables you to derive more attributes from the maximum number allocated to each object class.

Example: Reusing Attributes Across Object Types

Stephanie, the administrator, wants to define an attribute named NOTES for the RMR and CR request types. For the RMR type, she wants to define a user prompt called "Review Notes" and for the CR type, she wants the user prompt "Inspection Notes." Stephanie creates the NOTES attribute for the RMR type with the desired user prompt, and then assigns NOTES to the CR type and changes the user prompt. In this way, Stephanie can modify the same attribute for use with two object types without creating two separate attributes.

Generally, each attribute definition includes:

- The name of the attribute.

- The maximum length of the attribute value.

- The user prompt that appears as the field label for the attribute in the GUI.

- The data type for the attribute value, see Attribute Types and Data Typesbelow.

- The display length and height of the attribute.

- An optional valid set of values.

- Attribute update rules and role sections, described in Attribute Update Rules Attribute Update Rules.