Metadata Editor

Use this dialog to manage common attributes at both user and project levels.

Where do I find the dialog?

On the toolbar, select the Gemini Terrain Settings icon – Common Settings – Metadata: Editor.

Metadata Hierarchy

Gemini Terrain comes with a factory standard for attributes in the file MetadataNor.json, located in the Sys folder. These cannot be edited, but they can be referenced or copied by application layers and models.

• User level: Attributes are stored in MetadataUserNor.json in the user folder
• Project level: Attributes are stored in Metadata.json in the project folder

The metadata editor dialog shows the hierarchical structure for attributes

Creating a new attribute

Procedure

1. Select User or Project
2. Right-click and choose Open for editing
3. Select Create attribute from the context menu
4. Enter a description
5. Optionally, check Required
6. Select attribute type
7. If List is selected as the type, enter valid codes

Tip

In the application layer, you can filter to show only required attributes. These will then only appear in the list field and in the properties dialog.

Available attribute types

When you create an attribute at the user or project level, you can choose from the following types:

Type	Description	Example
Boolean	On/off value	True/false
Text	Free text field	Description
Integer	Whole number	Count, index
Decimal	Number with decimals	Length, area
Enum	List of valid values	Material type
Date	Date format	Creation date
Time	Time format	Registration time
Date-time	Combined date and time	Timestamp
Hyperlink	URL or file path	Link to document
Hyperlink list	Multiple hyperlinks	Multiple documents

Note

Attributes act as containers for a single value. The type of container determines what kind of value can be entered.

Hyperlinks

Attributes of type Hyperlink can represent:

• A URL, for example https://connected.geminisuite.com/
• A file path, for example attachments/photo.jpg

Hyperlink attributes are shown in the properties dialog under the hyperlinks tab.

Editing code list in Excel

Procedure

1. Click Edit in Excel, and the program will start Excel
2. Use Excel's functions to edit the data
3. Select File – Exit to return the changes to the dialog

Creating groups

You can also create groups by selecting Create group. Attributes can then be created under these groups in the same way as described above. In the properties list, groups will appear as a tree structure.

Grouped attributes are shown as a tree structure in the properties list

Using reference attributes

Application layers and models can use these common attributes in two ways:

• Add reference attribute – To reuse attributes across projects or company setups
• Create from reference attribute (Copy) – To make a copy of reference attributes in application layers or models

Tip

The advantage of reference attributes is that changes are automatically reflected in all associated application layers and models.

Migrating old files

The old fcodes.ini file in the user folder is converted to MetadataUserNor.json.

When old application layers or templates (*.al_) are opened, any missing attributes are created automatically. If the program finds the attribute(s) under common attributes, a reference attribute is created in the application layer.

Info

The program first searches at the project level, then at the user level, and finally at the system level.