Association Objects

An association object is used to assign category attributes to the taxonomy and to assign dynamic attributes to a specific control attribute. It is a list of control attribute values and their assigned category/dynamic attributes. There is one [control-attribute-value | category/dynamic-attribute] pair for each attribute assigned to a control attribute. In the case of category attributes (which are controlled by the taxonomy) and dynamic attributes that are controlled by a hierarchy attribute, the association object also indicates if an attribute for a node can be inherited by its children nodes, meaning that the attribute is assigned once to the parent node but also applies to all its children nodes.

If a code set is assigned to a category/dynamic attribute, the associations for the attribute can also specify a subset of the code set values. An example would be a category attribute named “Color” that is assigned to a code set containing the values: “Blue”, “Black”, “Red”, “Green”, and “Yellow”. An assignment of the Color attribute to the node: “Stationary.Writing Materials.Pens” may limit the values for Color to “Blue”, “Black”, or “Red” while the assignment to the node: “Equipment.AudioVisual.Laser Pointers” may limit the values for Color to “Red” or “Green”. When a user is editing a record, the dropdown list for Color will only show the designated subset of values.