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Attribute
Definition
An Attribute is a sub-object of an Entity or a Context. Every Attribute has a URI-valued type.
Examples
The physical person Bob Smith might be represented as an Entity in the Context of his employer, the Port Control Authority. This Entity might have the following types of Identity Attributes (and associated values) in this context:
- email-address = bob@portcontrol.gov
- phone number = 617-555-1234
- passport information = ...etc.
- fingerprint data = ...etc.
This same physical person Bob Smith is also represented as a Entity in a "customer-to-Clothes-R-Us" Context (this customer's relationship with the Clothes-R-Us merchant. In this Context Bob has these Identity Attributes:
- platinumCustomer
- preferredColor = "blue"
HOWL
In Higgins
Types
In Higgins a Identity Attribute is identified by a URI that defines its type. The URI http://openschemas.org/2006/person/surname might indicate an Identity Attribute that represented a person's last name. The schema associated with the containing Context provides metadata about this URI.
Values
- An Identity Attribute may have one or more values
- The values may be literal types (defined by the XML Schema literal types) or complex (structured) values
- A special kind of Identity Attribute is called a Subject Relation whose value is a reference to another Digital Subject in the same or a different Context
- Some Identity Attributes are defined by the containing Context's schema to allow multiple unique values. For example the attribute preferredBreakfast might have the values {spam, eggs}, but it could not have the values {spam, spam, spam, eggs, spam}.