Merging Attributes 

Sometimes redundant attributes may get added to the repository. This may occur when importing a file that uses a different name for an existing attribute, or when different people create a new attribute for products without first checking to see if an equivalent attribute already exists. In these cases, the solution is to merge the redundant attributes.

When you use the Merge command to merge two attributes into a single attribute, MDM opens the Merge Attributes dialog similar to the Attribute Detail tab for the particular attribute type, and populates it with values for you to edit.

When you merge a text attribute, each attribute is likely to have a different set of text values, and MDM populates the merge dialog with the combined set of text values from each of them. You can modify text values, delete unused values, and even merge pairs of corresponding values, as necessary, to create a single synthesized set of text values for the merged attribute.

MDM then merges the attribute based on the values and option settings you specify (table below), as follows:

·        Creates the resultant attribute to replace the original attributes.

·        Allows you to modify, delete, and arbitrarily combine text values for a text attribute merge.

·        Links the resultant attribute to each of the categories that had either of the original attributes linked.

·        Assigns the appropriate value(s) to the resultant attribute in each record that had data values set for either original attribute.

·        Removes the two original attributes from the pool of attributes.

Merging attributes is a powerful operation that merges not only the attributes and their corresponding links, but also all of the underlying sets of data values and even the data values themselves that are assigned to each of the attributes.

If each attribute has a different Attribute Image (or a different Text Value Image for a common text value), MDM displays Multiple Images in the image property in place of either image. You must double-click on the property to open the Select Single Image dialog and deselect one of the images to resolve the conflict before you are permitted to hit OK.

If both original attributes have a link to the same category so that individual main table records have a value set for each attribute, and you define the resultant attribute as single-valued, both original values cannot be stored in the resultant attribute. If this occurs, MDM cannot perform the merge without loss of data. Instead, it creates a mask called Merge Attributes Conflict [attr1, attr2] identifying the offending records, and displays an error dialog.

Initial Merged Values in the Merge Attributes Dialog

Property	Initial Merged Value
Name	Merged Attr1 and Attr2
Alias	Alias1 Alias2
Definition	Definition1 Definition2
Attribute Image	·        Single displayed image if only one image or same image from both ·        Image frame color-coded based on source or conflict
	Attr1		Image1
	Attr2		Image2
	Common to both		Image
	Two different images		.Multiple Images.
Multi-Valued	·        Checkbox set if Multi-Valued set for either or both attributes ·        Color-coded based on source ·        Disabled if in use by either or both attributes (cannot be unchecked)
Priority	·        Preserves Priority of each of the original links ·        Chooses higher priority when linked to the same category
Text attributes only
Text Value List	·        List contains combined set of text value(s) ·        Text values can be modified, deleted, and merged ·        Color-coded based on source ·        Bold if in use by either or both attributes (cannot be deleted)
	Source	Unused		In Use
	Attr1	text value1		text value1
	Attr2	text value2		text value2
	Common to both	text value		text value
Numeric attributes only
Ratings	·        Checkbox for each rating set if set for either or both attributes ·        Color-coded based on source ·        Disabled if in use by either or both attributes (cannot be unchecked)
Numeric and coupled numeric attributes only
Dimension	Dimension (common for original attributes and cannot be changed)
Default Unit	Unit1
Decimal Places	Decimal1
Show Fractions	·        Checkbox set if Show Fractions set for either or both attributes ·        Color-coded based on source
Legend	Source	Unused		In Use
	Attr1	ü		ü
	Attr2	ü		ü
	Common to both	ü		ü