Linking and Unlinking Attributes 

Use

Recall that when you create an attribute, you only define the type of information you intend you store in it, but you do not actually create the “bucket” in which to store the information until you link it to one or more categories.

You can link multiple attributes to a single category, and you can link each attribute to multiple categories. You can also link an attribute to the parent of a category, if you want all of the children of that category to inherit the attribute.

An attribute is not associated with any records of the main table until you: (1) link it to a category; and (2) assign that category to a main table record.

Procedure

To link one or more attributes to a category:

...

       1.      In the taxonomy tree, select the category to which you want to link the attributes.

       2.      In the Attributes pane, select the attribute(s) you want to link to the selected category.

       3.      Right-click on one of the attributes and choose Link from the context menu, or click the Link Attribute toolbar button, or press Ctrl + L, or choose Attributes ® Link from the main menu.

MDM links the selected attributes to the selected category, and displays the linked icon in the Linked column of the Attributes pane (figure below).

You can also drag-and-drop one or more attributes from the Attributes pane onto any category in the taxonomy tree to link it directly to that category.

 

To unlink one or more attributes from a category:

...

       1.      In the Taxonomy tree, select the category from which you want to unlink the attributes.

       2.      In the Attributes pane, select the attribute(s) you want to unlink from the selected category.

       3.      Right-click on one of the attributes and choose Unlink from the context menu, or click the Unlink Attribute toolbar button, or press Ctrl + U, or choose Attributes ® Unlink from the main menu.

MDM unlinks the selected attributes from the selected category.

 

Operation	Constraints
Link Attribute	·        Must be in Taxonomy mode ·        Attributes pane must have focus ·        At least one attribute must be selected ·        Root node cannot have linked attributes ·        Node cannot be an alias ·        One or more of the selected attributes are already linked to or inherited by the selected node
Unlink Attribute	·        Must be in Taxonomy mode ·        Attributes pane must have focus ·        At least one attribute must be selected ·        Root node cannot have attributes to unlink ·        Node cannot be an alias ·        All of the selected attributes must be linked to the selected node ·        No selected attributes can have data assigned to them

To prevent data loss, MDM will not allow you to unlink a linked attribute if values are assigned to it in one or more records. However, MDM does not detect this condition until after you attempt to perform the operation. As a result, the Unlink menu item is available even if the selected attribute has data assigned to it. If you choose Unlink in this situation, MDM does not permit the unlink and instead displays an error dialog.