Asset Types
You use an asset type to define the collection of attributes that can be edited on assets having that particular asset type. When the database is created, a first asset type — simply named Asset — using a few predefined attributes is automatically created for you. You can modify this asset type by adding new attributes to its definition, or you can create entirely new asset types using a combination of predefined and new attributes.
An asset type has a list of sections, with each section having a title and a subset of the asset type’s associated attributes. The order of the attributes in each section, as well as the overall order of the sections themselves, determines how the corresponding Asset page for an asset having that particular asset type is displayed.
The Asset Types page, opened by clicking Asset Types in the Database navigation sidebar, shows a table with all asset types in the database. Click on the name of an asset type in the table to show more details for that asset type. Click the Add button to add a new asset type.
See also Adding New Types of Assets.
Adding Asset Types
To add a new asset type:
1
Write a name for the asset type in the Name field.
2
Write a shorthand alias for the asset type in the Alias field. The alias must be unique among the set of all aliases and start with an uppercase Latin alphabet character followed by zero or more such characters, numbers, or underscores. The alias can contain, at most, 16 characters.
The alias is used in web links for assets of this asset type, as seen, for example, in the web browser’s address bar on the Asset page. Once set for an asset type, it cannot be changed.
3
Attributes defined for the asset type are added via sections. Under Sections:
a
Write a title for the section in the Title field.
b
Select attributes for the section in the Add attribute list. Added attributes appear in the Attributes table. You can rearrange the attributes in the order they should appear in the section using drag and drop — see also Rearranging Table Rows.
4
Click the up and down arrows to rearrange the sections in the order you want them to appear on an asset page.
5
Click Save to add the new asset type.
Different asset types can reuse the same attributes. A single attribute can, however, only appear once as a top-level member on an asset type. An option is to add different composite attributes containing the same primitive attribute — see Primitive Attributes and Composite Attributes.
The Asset Type Page
The Asset Type page contains details on an asset type in the database. The fields are:
•
Name. The name of the asset type.
•
Alias. The alias of the asset type.
•
Sections. The list of sections and their corresponding attributes for the asset type.
Click Edit to edit the asset type, including adding, rearranging, and removing its sections or attributes.
Click Delete to delete the asset type in the database. The deletion is not permanent — you can restore the deleted asset type by clicking Restore.
Click Delete Permanently if you do want to permanently delete the asset type in the database. Permanent deletion will only succeed if the asset type is not assigned to any assets.