The Descriptive Name Rules (container)

Rule Name:

Create Descriptive Names from ASN when blank 

Position:

Under: The Descriptive Name Rules   

Name:

Desc_Blank

Default:

Checked

Usage:

If there is no descriptive name content in the record (which occurs in a number of older databases) then use the ASN name field to create a suitable descriptive name and make some primitive guesses about the type of entry this is (simple or complex, data element or data frame).   If changes were made, a note is added to the log and displayed. 

Rule Name:

Prepend front of Descriptive Name based on table type

Position:

Under: The Descriptive Name Rules   

Name:

Desc_PrePend

Default:

UN-Checked

Usage:

Use the style of naming found in SAE and IEEE standards work, which is to append one of the following items (“DE_”, “DF_”, “Msg_”)  to descriptive name fields that do not have such a string to make them match the styles used in those standards.  If changes were made, a note is added to the log and displayed. 

Rule Name:

Warn on duplicate Descriptive Name entries

Position:

Under: The Descriptive Name Rules   

Name:

Desc_Dupes

Default:

UN-Checked (not released)

Usage:

As a general rule only one record in the table should have any given descriptive name, duplicates are not allowed.  This can be problematic for the SQL calls in the tools, but it also violates the rules of IEEE 1488/89 for how data records are created.   In some older MS access tools that were developed by others this can cause application failures as well, and may require hand removal in MS Access for the table to be usable.    This rule detects the presence of such records and warns the user.

Remarkably there are very few descriptive names that conflict across all of ITS, so this rarely occurs and then only when multiple standards are merged into the same tables.  In such a case, the descriptive names must uniquely resolve through the use of module names or namespaces or the ASN and XML will not compile. 

Of course the user can create such names, and this most often occurs when iterating variations of a data concept in the development process. In such cases, append a letter or number to the name to differentiate them (i.e. MyEntry1,   MyEntry2, etc.).