Working with custom property types

About this task

Sometimes, the items in the data you're investigating might have properties that aren't represented by the property types in the schema. For example, you might want to include information about account holders' banks, and need to add a Bank Name property type to the Account entity type in your current schema; or if you created a custom type called Dog, you might want it to have a Microchip Number property type.

When you upload a record to the Information Store that has a value for a property of a custom type, that value is not uploaded with it. For example, imagine adding a custom property type named Hair Style to the Person entity type. You might then create a Person record and enter "Curly" as the value for the Hair Style property. In that situation, the Upload Records dialog warns you that custom properties will not be uploaded. If you later search for that record and add it to another chart, it will not have a Hair Style value.

Procedure

To create a custom property type, and a custom property:

1. Select an item on the chart and open the Record Inspector.

2. On the Properties tab, click Add. The Add Properties list opens.

3. Click New type and then select Create custom property type. The Create property type dialog opens.

4. Enter a unique name for your new property type.

5. Choose the Logical type that values of properties with your type will have. For more information, see Logical types and variants.

6. Select Create in all open charts if you want the new property type to be available in all open charts.

7. Select Add to record label if you want the value of a property with this type to form part of the record label.

   Note: This option is not available when you add a custom property type to an item type from the i2 Analyze schema.

8. Select Use in record matching to specify that records can match each other only when they have the same value for a property of this type.

   Note: This option is not available when you add a custom property type to an item type from the i2 Analyze schema.

9. In the Insert after field, choose where you would like properties of your new type to appear in the Record Inspector's property list.

10. Click OK to confirm the settings of the new property type.

    The Record Inspector uses the Custom property type icon
    to indicate custom property types whenever they appear.

To remove a custom property:

1. Select an item on the chart and open the Record Inspector.

2. On the Properties tab, click the Actions button (...) next to the property you want to remove.

3. Click Remove. The property is removed from this record, but properties of the same type remain on other records. You can replace the property from the Add properties dialog.

To edit a custom property type:

1. Select an item on the chart and open the Record Inspector.

2. On the Properties tab, click the Actions button (...) next to the property whose type you want to edit.

3. Click Edit property type, make your changes, and click OK.

To delete a custom property type:

1. Select an item on the chart and open the Record Inspector.

2. On the Properties tab, click the Actions button (...) next to the property whose type you want to delete.

3. Click Delete property type. A warning is displayed.

   Note: If you delete a custom property type, all properties with this type are removed from all records on the current chart. You can re-create a deleted property type by copying a record with a property of the same type from another chart.

4. Click Delete to proceed, or Cancel.