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Metadata hierarchy

To enable version and language management, Content Manager stores metadata at different levels for each object in the repository. This facilitates maximum reuse while allowing publication owners to specify which content is used in a specific publication.

Object hierarchy

The following table describes the different levels of metadata that comprise the object hierarchy. An object's metadata is inherited, for example, the Language level inherits from the Logical level so, Title, GUID, and Description are inherited at the Language level.

LevelNameDescriptionExamples
1Logical levelMetadata that applies to all underlying versions and languages
  • Title
  • Identifier (GUID)
  • Description
2Version levelMetadata that applies to all underlying languages in a specific version, for example: version number, version creation date, and a short description of the changes.
  • Version number
  • Version creation date
  • Description of changes
3Language levelMetadata that applies to all the objects in a specific language
  • Translation date
  • Current translation status
  • Author
  • Translator
4Resolution levelMetadata applicable to images that specifies a combination of resolution and language
The following figure illustrates how the levels integrate.
Three-level hierachy

Hierarchy and linking

When you author DITA topics in a file structure (that is, when not using a content management system such as Content Manager), all links in the files rely on the file name and relative path to the referenced file. This means, for example, that the DITA maps specify the path for each topic in referenced in the map, and you must manually keep the references synchronized with the file structure. If you move a topic from one folder to another, you must update every reference to the topic to reflect the new location.

In contrast, Content Manager identifies objects with a unique IDs. The location in the repository is not used for file references. Content Manager generates a unique number when a new object is added to the repository, the GUID. The GUID is stored on the logical level and is the same for all versions and all translations of the object.

Hierarchy and Versions

Objects change over time as new versions are created, language-level objects are translated into a language that was previously not supported, and so on.

Authors do not need to know which version is available in which language. Content Manager automatically determines which version and language to show users.

First, Content Manager looks for the last released version for a language. If no released version exists in that language, the last released version of the default language is shown instead.