Re: * If an Element is contained in a Collection can it omit properties (such > as createdAt) and inherit them from the Collection?
In the logical model Collection Elements are compositions, not containers. (A serialized Element may contain other Elements. An information model defines only "contain" and "reference" relationships, and a logical composition may be serialized using a combination of contained values and references.) Every Element, including those in a Collection, can stand alone. When serializing a Collection member by itself, it "inherits" (has copies of) properties of the Collection Element that aren't defined by the member. The fact that it is a peer of other members is not available from an individually-serialized member Element; that knowledge is available only from the Collection Element. Creation properties are special - they depend on whether the member Element was minted as part of the Collection or separately from it. So if an Element is a member of a Collection and specifies createdAt that is different from the Collection, it is an external Element (serialized as a reference). (This gets deep into the thorny topic of verification, but in order to verify a collection it must have a canonical value, and if a member Element is minted separately from the Collection the canonical value is a reference not a copy.) Element IRIs signal minting status. Member Elements have the same beginning part of the IRI as the Collection if they are minted with it and a different prefix if they were minted before the Collection. (A Collection cannot have members that haven't yet been minted.) That's why the Collection has a baseIRI property (the logical diagram calls it "namespace" but that's a bad name for a variety of reasons.) All Collection member Element IRIs without a prefix were minted as part of the Collection; all member Elements with a prefix (or a full IRI that doesn't start with the baseIRI) were minted before the Collection. Dave -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#4222): https://lists.spdx.org/g/Spdx-tech/message/4222 Mute This Topic: https://lists.spdx.org/mt/86613085/21656 Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.spdx.org/g/Spdx-tech/unsub [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
