Name properties

When creating objects, do not use spaces or numbers at the beginning of name properties. Leading spaces are automatically dropped when you create an object. Although leading numbers are displayed correctly in a Display Name, they do not appear in the Symbolic Name, which is used by queries.

Name properties fall into two broad categories: class name properties and containable object name properties.

Class name properties

The properties in this section belong to classes, but not to the objects based on those classes. For example, a subclass of the Document class might have the Display Name of Current Invoices and a Symbolic Name of CurrentInvoices (no space), but documents that are instances of this class would have neither of these properties. Instead, they would have the properties described in Containable object name properties.

Display Name

The Display Name is a property of all classes, but not of the objects based on those classes. This property is user-readable and is assigned at fetch time based on the current client locale settings, thus making it locale-specific. The Display Name is the provider-specific name for a class and is typically the designated Name property for a class. In order to modify the value of this property, you must first obtain the proper localized string for the property from the Display Names property and then edit the Display Name string value.

Symbolic Name

The Symbolic Name property is the programmatic identifier for a class and is required to be unique within an object store. Its value must begin with a letter and can contain the following characters only: A to Z, a to z, 0 to 9, and _ (underscore); spaces and symbols are not allowed. Property templates and object stores also have a Symbolic Name property. For property templates, the Symbolic Name property is required to be unique within a class family only.

This property is normally set at creation time and is typically assigned the same value as the Display Name property (the spaces are removed from the Display Name before assigning the value to the Symbolic Name). However, the Symbolic Name property is not required to have the same value as the Display Name property. For more information, see Renaming a class.

A metadata prefix-naming convention for class and property symbolic names has been defined. All new classes and properties introduced, by any IBM® ECM product that produces its own Content Platform Engine add-on feature, or by new system properties in the Content Platform Engine server, are required to adhere to this naming convention. This naming convention applies to class and property symbolic name values only; there are no constraints on the values that are chosen for display names.

Details of the prefix-naming convention are as follows:

• A prefix of Cm is used for the symbolic name of any new Content Platform Engine class or system property of a user-extensible class introduced in this release. For example, CmNewProperty.
• All new system classes follow the naming convention, whether they are user extensible or not.
• The Cm prefix is also used for any new properties or classes that are introduced in Content Platform Engine add-on features. However, the DITA add-on feature continues to use the Dita prefix instead of Cm.

Any IBM ECM product that produces its own add-on feature must conform to a prefix-naming convention. These add-on features use a prefix of Cm???, in which ??? represents a short product-name abbreviation. However, any IBM ECM products that have already established their own prefix-naming convention before this release continue to use it instead.

The following add-on metadata prefixes are reserved:

• Cm: reserved by Content Platform Engine
• Dita: reserved by Content Platform Engine for the Content Cortex DITA Add-on
• RM: reserved by IBM Enterprise Records
• EDM: reserved by IBM eDiscovery Manager
• EDISC: reserved by IBM eDiscovery Manager
• ICC: reserved by IBM Content Collector

When you create a class or custom property, avoid assigning its symbolic name with a value beginning with one of these reserved prefixes; as long as you do so, you will not be subject to name collisions in this release or in any future upgrades.

Name

The Name property is read-only and is visible on the property sheet for a class. The value of the property is either the same as the Display Name property, the class identifier string when there is no Display Name value, or an empty string if neither value exists. The Name property is available for all classes, but not objects based on those classes, and is automatically updated when the Display Name property value is modified.

Renaming a class

When you rename a class, you change the value of the Display Name property that causes the value of the Name property to also be updated. However, changing the value of the Display Name property does not automatically change the value of the Symbolic Name property. This is by design, allowing administrators to change the Display Name without requiring the redesign of any custom applications that are written to find that particular class.

Containable object name properties

The properties in this section belong to objects that are created as instances of classes, including documents, folders, and custom objects. For example, the Document class has the Display Name property, while a document object, which is an instance of the Document class, does not have the Display Name property, but instead has the Document Title property.

Document Title

The Document Title property is the friendly name displayed for a document. When you rename a document by using the Document properties, you change the value of this property. Document Title is a custom property and is used by document objects in much the same way as Display Name is used for classes.

Folder Name

The Folder Name property is the user-friendly name that is displayed for a folder. You can change the Folder Name property through the Folder properties or through the Rename Folder option in the Action menu of the administration console.

Containment

The Containment Name property is the unique name for the head object (in other words, the containee object) in a referential containment relationship. This property applies to objects in folders, which can include documents and custom objects.

If the head object is a document, the Document Title is used to set the value of the Containment Name property. If the head object is a folder or custom object, the Name property of the object is used. For information about filing one or more documents or custom objects in multiple folders, see Filing a document.

Creating name properties for an object

When you use the administration console to create an instance of a class, you use the property grid to specify a value for the Name property for the object. The ContainmentName property is assigned by Content Platform Engine according to the settings of the referential containment relationship of the new object. For more information about this relationship, see A technical aside on referential containment.

Renaming a document, folder, or custom object

You can use the administration console to rename an object or to rename the containment name of an object.

• Rename the document title: The Document Title property can be modified under the General tab or through the property grid (Properties tab) of the document.
• Rename the containment name of document: The document containment name can be modified by clicking Rename containment name under the document’s Folders Filed In tab.
• Rename the folder name: The folder name property can be modified under the General tab or the property grid (Properties tab) of the document.
• Rename the containment name of custom object: You cannot rename the name of the custom object, but you can rename its containment name. The containment name can be modified by clicking Rename containment nameunder the Folders Filed In tab.