Category question

Hugh_Ferguson

Hello, 

I've looked at the Category attributes example given, but I probably need more guidance than what's there.  I'm assuming I can update metadata after creation simply by updating the Metadata object on the node then doing an UpdateNode() call.  I'm having a bit of difficulty understanding the right way to set attributes on categories (assuming categories that already exist in the system). Is the correct approach to get a category template or a category definition?  The category template has a placeholder for attribute values but there's no way of knowing what value corresponds to what attribute.

Let's assume you have a list of name value pairs that represent display name and target value. Let's also assume that we can find the category node, but we have no idea what the individual attribute IDs are.  What then is the correct approach for setting each attribute value in your attributeGroup or attributeGroup definition?  In the example, you fetch the AttributeGroup object using the GetCategoryTemplate call. You then set the values in the Values list by specifying its index when you set it (i.e. attrGroup.Values[x] = somevalue.

In the above approch, I see the following gaps:

* How do you know what index to set (fetching the AttrGroupDefinition doesn't help unless you have to fetch it as well as the category template)?

* How do you support sets?

Thanks in advance

-Hugh

Hugh_Ferguson

I have managed to find a way to solve my first problem.  It's fairly involved, but I discovered that you need to fetch both the category template and the category definition.  Both seem to have the attributes in display order, so if you know the position of the attribute object in the definition, it's the same in the template object.  I do find that a curious way of doing it, and I do fret that I may hit a case where this is not so. For the sake of scrutiny, this is how I'm solving my first problem:

 

 AttributeGroup attrGrp = DocManClient.GetCategoryTemplate(ref otAuthToken, catDef.ID);

 AttributeGroupDefinition attrDef = DocManClient.GetCategoryDefinition(ref otAuthToken, catDef.ID );

 Metadata md = functionToGetMetadataFromNode(....);

 int attrIdx = 0;

 foreach (CWS.Attribute attr in attrDef.Attributes)

 {

     if (attr.DisplayName.Equals("Attribute I am Interested in"))

     {

          DataValue dValue = attrGrp.Values[attrIdx];

          ((StringValue)dValue).Values = new string?[]{"my", "list", "of", "values"};

     }

 

     // Increment attr ptr so that we can get the next value

     attrIdx++;

 }

 // Append our group to the list. Do this in a safe manner as attribute group list may be undefined

  List<AttributeGroup> currList;

 AttributeGroup[] currGroups = md.AttributeGroups; 

 if (currGroups != null)

     currList = currGroups.ToList();

 else

     currList = new List<AttributeGroup>();

 currList.Add(group);

 md.AttributeGroups = currList.ToArray(); 

 

... Then you call update node

If anyone is monitoring this thread, I am still puzzled about how to best handle attribute sets. 

-Hugh