Re: [regrep-comment] Add ability to add ClassificationSlots ?

John Silva wrote:

In ebXML reg/rep right now if I have a named metadata item that I use a
with a
Classification Scheme, there is no way for me to give that multiple values.

Currently in ebXML Registry, the closest thing that resembles named metadata items in RIM is the Slot class where a Slot instance is a user defined attribute that can dynamically be attached to any RegistryObejct. A Slot based dynamic attribute may have a single String value or a Collection of String values.

Thus a Slot almost meets the use case you cite but for the fact that you wish to have the values of a Slot attribute to be constrained to values of a ClassificationScheme as defined by its ClassificationNodes.

Imagine that I had a metadata item named shape that could take multiple
values from a Classification
Scheme; e.g. the shape square is a square, rhombus, parallelogram, and
quadrangle (not a good
example but you get the idea). How could this be represented in ebXML
(besides a Slot) ? Another idea,

That's right. Currently you would use a Slot to represent the example you give.

maybe related to the idea of multiple inheritance of Classifications,
what if Classifications could
be represented like Slots, i.e. as a ValueList:

    <ClassificationSlot name=shape>
        <ValueList>
             <Value scheme="ShapeScheme">square</Value>
             <Value scheme="ShapeScheme">rhombus</Value>
             <Value scheme="ShapeScheme">parallelogram</Value>
             <Value scheme="ShapeScheme">quadrangle</Value>
             <Value scheme="PrimaryColors">red</Value>
             <Value scheme="FillType">solid</Value>
         </ValueList>
    </ClassificationSlot>

A variation on your suggestion is as follows. Rather than creating a new ClassificationSlot type in RIM we could extend the existing Slot class such that its values could conform to a ClassificationScheme. This could be achieved by extending the Slot class to include a scheme attribute that references a ClassificationScheme. When a scheme attribute is specified then the Slot values must be references to ClassificationNodes within the ClassificationScheme specified by the scheme attribute.

I believe the above solution will meet the use case you describe and will meet the needs of HL7 well. It is a minor enhancement over the existing RIM and we will consider it for V3.

Thanks again for your valuable suggestion and for helping make ebXML Registry V3 meet the needs of HL7 as well as other communities.

Regards,
Farrukh

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