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Corticon Studio: Quick Reference Guide : Vocabularies : Populating a new Vocabulary : Adding nodes to the Vocabulary tree view : Attribute nodes: Adding and editing attributes and their properties
 

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Attribute nodes: Adding and editing attributes and their properties
1. Select the Entity node in the Vocabulary tree view where you want to add an attribute.
2. Right-click, choose Add Attribute, and then use its submenu to specify the datatype of the attribute, as illustrated for a Date attribute: (You could instead choose the menu command Vocabulary > Add Attribute.) Note that the toolbar button always creates a String attribute.
3. After creating the new attribute, the editor cursor lets you modify the default name from Attributen to your preferred name.
4. If your preferred datatype is a Custom Data Type, click on the dropdown menu for the datatype... ...and then select the defined Custom Data Type you want to use for this attribute, as illustrated:
5. Assign the other property values as described in the following table.
The following table lists the basic properties common to every Attribute.
Table 13. Basic Attribute Properties
Property
Value
Attribute Name
Assigns a name to the new Attribute. As with Domain and Entity nodes, double-clicking the node in the tree view will also open an editing box. Name changes made in either the node or the property will update in both places; however, you should choose to refactor the name instead to insure that it perpetuates throughout the project.
Data Type
The default value is String. Other available data types: Boolean, Decimal, DateTime, Date, Integer and Time. You can also have a custom data type. All types are described in the Rule Language Guide and in the Building the Vocabulary Building the Vocabulary chapter.
Mandatory
A mandatory attribute cannot have a value of null. This setting affects the members of the values sets shown in Rulesheet drop-downs. For example, an attribute whose Mandatory value is No will always include a null value selection in its Rulesheet drop-downs.
Mode
Choose the attribute's Mode from the drop-down list. Base attributes exist or are used by systems outside Corticon, and are included in the XML schemas and contracts generated by the Deployment Console. Base attributes map directly to an element in the XML CorticonRequest/Response documents or object properties processed by the Server in production.
Transient attributes are derived fields; they exist only during rule execution and are not part of XML schemas generated by the Deployment Console. They do not need to be included in the XML CorticonRequest documents or objects, and they are not included in the XML CorticonResponse documents or objects produced by the Server in deployment. 
Transient attributes can, however, be dragged into a Ruletest's Input column and provided input values (often zero) so that calculations in tests produce results that can validate rules.
Note: If you export tests that use transients to XML, and then run them on a deployment Server, the transients are ignored.