Attributes

Apply attributes on ontology entities

An ontology can carry custom attributes the same way a schema can. Use them to record who owns a class, which system is the source of record for an instance, or when a relationship was last reviewed. You assign groups to the ontology once, then set values on the ontology as a whole and on individual entities.

In the app: Data Context › Ontologies › your ontology › More › Attribute groups

Before you start

  • The attribute group and its attributes exist. See Create attribute groups.
  • Your organization must not be in read-only mode.

The five entity kinds

An ontology hosts values on five kinds of item:

  • The ontology itself.
  • Its classes.
  • Its relationships.
  • Its attributes (data properties).
  • Its instances.

These labels follow your organization’s ontology naming convention. Under the OWL convention they read as class, object property, data property, and named individual. Under the Fabric convention they read as entity, relationship, field, and record.

Note: “Attributes” means two different things here. An ontology attribute is a data property of a class. A custom attribute is one of your own governance fields. This page is about custom attributes, which is why the editor labels them Custom attributes.

Assign groups to the ontology

  1. Open the ontology.
  2. Open the More menu and choose Attribute groups.
  3. Click Add Group.
  4. Pick the Attribute Group.
  5. Under Entity Types, tick the kinds of item it applies to.
  6. Click Add.

The Attribute Groups dialog lists each assigned group with its description, its Entity Types badges, and its attribute count. Use a row’s actions to change its entity types or remove it from this ontology.

[screenshot]
The ontology's Attribute Groups dialog with one group covering the ontology and classes.

Set values on the ontology

  1. On the ontology’s page, expand the Attributes panel. It starts collapsed.
  2. Fill in the fields of each group that covers the ontology itself.
  3. Click Save.

Set values on classes, relationships, attributes, and instances

  1. Open the ontology editor and select the class, relationship, attribute, or instance.
  2. In its panel, find the Custom attributes section, labelled “from this ontology’s attribute groups”.
  3. Fill in the fields and click Save.

Values belong to that one entity. Selecting another entity shows its own values.

If no assigned group covers an entity’s kind, the Custom attributes section doesn’t appear at all.

[screenshot]
A class selected in the ontology editor, with its Custom attributes section below the class's own data properties.

Reference attributes on ontologies

Reference attributes work the same way here as anywhere else. You can point an ontology class at the table it’s sourced from, or point a table at the ontology class it represents. See Reference attributes.