Notes

A Note is designed to capture local information related to one or more identifiable objects. Note is designed to be an inherent part of the DDI. The information may be passed along with a DDI object over its lifetime. It is not intended to replace formal extension mechanisms. Formal extension should be used whenever a locally used object needs to be added to the schema. However, run-time extension needs may arise and Note can be used to capture the required metadata and associate it with the appropriate object.

Note may be used to capture information during processing which is then removed prior to publication. Removing a Note removes all the links to related objects within the DDI structure.

DDI recommends placing the Note within the maintainable object containing the objects referenced by the Note. Each note may indicate who is responsible for the note, its type using a controlled vocabulary, the subject of the note, a head and note content, a set of key/value pairs and language specification for the overall note. In addition each note must be related to one or more identifiable objects.

A Note may be classified by its type and subject. TypeOfNote should express the purpose of the note (e.g. processing note, request for review, run time extension, etc.). NoteSubject is used to express the topical subject of the Note. Both TypeOfNote and NoteSubject may be expressed using a controlled vocabulary. Relationship provides a reference to any object with an ID, preferably within the same maintainable, and a description of the relationship if needed for clarity. This is expressed as a structured string. The direction of the link between a Note and another object is always from the Note to the object.

The Header provides a brief label or heading for the NoteContent which is expressed as a structured string. The provision of ProprietaryInfo (a StandardKeyValuePair) allows for the expression of the content as a tuple (attribute key and value pair) to support computer systems and applications. The overall language of the Note can be provided with the xml:lang attribute.