Schema Types

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Each type in a schema defines the following properties:

 

The identifier(s) for the schema type. Every schema type must have at least one identifier. These identifiers become topic subject identifiers in the topic map that uses the schema.
The constructs that the type can be used on this is one or more of: Topic, Name, Occurrence, Association, Role or Arc.
A boolean flag indicating if the type is abstract. An abstract type is one which an editor should not be allowed to use in the topic map directly, but which has subclasses which the editors are allowed to use
One or more labels (one per language code)

 

A type which can be used to type Topics is called a Topic Type, a type which can be used to type names a Name type and so on. It is possible for a single type to be a Topic Type, Name Type, Occurrence Type, Association Type, Role Type and Arc Type all at the same time. However, allowing a single type to type multiple different topic map constructs can be extremely confusing for creators and consumers of the topic map data so in general it should be avoided if at all possible.