Slice Object Fields

The following describes the fields of slice objects.

Field_NameDecription
SLICE_IDThe SLICE_ID field contains a unique number identifying every slice within a compound object.

Slice id’s are unique within the object and never repeat.

SLICE_PARENT

This field contains the SLICE_ID of the slice’s parent slice.

This allows the maintenance of structured data hierarchy within a compound object. For example, if an XML document contains an element CHAPTER which contains SECTION elements, the SLICE_PARENT of each SECTION could be its containing CHAPTER.

Currently there is no built-in significance attached to the PARENT SLICE. It is reserved for future functionality.

SLICE_TYPEThis field is a variable length string of unlimited size.

It has no system meaning, it is there solely for the use of adapters/tools.

SLICE_REF_TYPE

This field contains the SDL Contenta object type number of the SDL Contenta object referenced by a REFERENCE or CHILD slice.

Any other slice CLASS contains a 0 in this field.

SLICE_REF_POIDThis field contains the POID (Persistent Object ID) needed to access the SDL Contenta object specified by a REFERENCE or CHILD slice.
SLICE_CONTROL_SIZEThe SLICE_CONTROL_SIZE field contains the number of bytes of control data contained by the slice.

This data is accessed via the slice control command set.

SLICE_CONTENT_SIZEThis field contains the number of bytes of content data contained by the slice.

This data is accessed via the slice content command set.

SLICE_REF_CLASSThis field contains the RL_CLASS number of the SDL Contenta object referenced by a REFERENCE of CHILD slice.

Any other slice CLASS contains a 0 in this field.

SLICE_CLASS

This field defines the system significance of a slice.

The classes are: content, reference, child, group start, and group end.

  • A content slice is a slice which has meaning only to an Adapter and/or tool. Typically slices which correspond to content or control data are content slices.
  • A reference slice corresponds to an SDL Contenta object which is not a child of the current compound object. An entity reference would be a possible use of the reference slice. reference slices are not adjusted by the slice sync command.
  • A child slice corresponds to a Contenta object which is a child of the current compound object. Typically a child slice is a piece of structured data hierarchy which has been declared an MRU (Minimum Reusable Unit).

    For example, if an XML document contains <CHAPTER> containing <SECTION>, and SECTION elements are broken into separate MRU’s, then the CHAPTER will contain a child slice for every SECTION. The child slice simply indicates that the content data for SECTION is contained in a Contenta object. The object must be a physical child of the parent compound object. child slices are re-adjusted to match the SDL Contenta build list during a slice sync operation.

  • A GROUP_START slice defines the beginning of an internal container.
  • A GROUP_END slice defines the end of an internal container.