> Maybe the problem is some sort of flaw in our data
> model. Perhaps the "score" (at least used the way
> you're talking about) shouldn't be a property of the
> article at all. Maybe the "order" should be property
> of the container (for example "topic") rather than
> the item itself.
True, but then you're obliged to create a topic for
a set of linked records just so you can set the score,
which seems a bit abusive of the idea of a topic.
> > For example, let's say you have an article record
> > and a list of person records. The article has a
> > principal author and a number of contributors. It
> > would be neat to be able to make one link between
> > the article and the principal author and designate
> > it to be the 'principal author link' and other
> > 'contributor' links to other person records.
> > The records could then be sorted and displayed using
> > this information.
> >
> > This approach seems pretty powerful, but obviously
> > more complex. Is it worth it?
> ...
>
> But from the user's perspective, I think I'd prefer
> a system where I could attach attributes called
> "principal author" and "contributers" to the article.
> These attributes would "point" to a person and a
> group, respectively. So we get around the idea of
> having to think of the link as a separate entity.
In this example, these viewpoints are functionally
identical and I agree it's probably preferable to have
attributes attached to the record. But now what if
you want to define an attribute of the link itself?
For example, let's say you have an article linked to
a principal author and you want to define an element
containing the rules of display for this particular
link instance. If a link is a separate entity that
you can link to, then you could attach the display
element to the link.
Paul N.
http://www.commentext.org
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