Term Identifier

A Term Identifier is a text that is used for identifying a semantic unit within a designated terminology. This means that it can be used for selecting an MRG entry that exists in the MRG associated with that terminology. It does NOT mean that any such text will actually identify such an MRG entry. Term identifiers can be ambiguous (refer to multiple MRG entries). It is also possible that a term identifier does not identify any such MRG entry.

Similarly, term identifiers can be used for identifying the curated text that describes the semantic unit within a designated terminology. Here, too, term identifiers exist that are ambiguous, or do not refer to any curated text.

Syntax

The syntax for a term identifier is:

termType:term@terminology-identifier

where:

• termType: (optional) specifies the kind of semantic unit that is to be identified. Typical values are concept:, relation:, pattern: (or mental-model:), or use-case:. If not specified, its value defaults to that of the defaulttype-field in the scope section of the SAF.

• term is required (must satisfy regex [a-z0-9_-]+). It is a text that is used to identify a semantic unit within the designated terminology. It appears in the (required) term-field of curated texts and MRG entries.

• @terminology-identifier (optional) specifies the terminology withi which the semantic unit is to be identified. The terminology-identifier (without the @ part) is the combination of a scopetag:vsntag, where

  • scopetag is a scopetag that identifies the scope of the terminology. If scopetag is omitted, the scope defaults to the current scope.
  • vsntag is a versiontag that identifies the version of the terminology to be used. If :vsntag (including the :) is omitted, the default version of the terminology is assumed, as specified in the defaultvsn field in the scope-section of the SAF of the scope in which the terminology is maintained.

Semantics - Looking for MRG entries

A term identifier can be used to refer to an MRG entry in the MRG that documents a particular terminology. This is done as follows:

1. First, the term identifier is split at the @-sign, where the part behind the @-sign identifies the terminology and hence the MRG that contains all MRG entries thereof. This set of MRG entries is what we start out with.
2. Then, we process the part in front of the @-sign, as follows:
   1. we only keep MRG entries whose term field equals the value specified by term;
   2. if termType: is specified, we only keep MRG entries whose termType field equals the value specified by termType;
   3. If the set of MRG entries that are kept includes more than one element, we only keep the MRG entries whose termType field contains the value specified by the defaulttype field as specifiedin the MRG.
3. Now we're done with selecting. In case the number of elements in the set of MRG entries is
   • 0: the term identifier cannot be resolved; there is no matching semantic unit.
   • 1: one semantic unit is identified; it is described by the selected MRG entry;
   • 2: the term identifier is ambiguous, i.e., or more than one semantic units are a match. This can occur when there are 2 or more MRG entries that both have the same term-field, and each of them has a termType field that is not the default termType for its that scope, and the term identifier did not contain a specification for the termType

Examples

In the following examples, we assume that

• tev2 is a scopetag that identifies the scope in which the TEv2 terminology is being curated.

• the default kind of semantic unit documented within tev2 is concept.

• terms is a vsntag that identifies the terminology within tev2 that consists of all terms that are defined within tev2.

• terms is the vsntag for the default terminology of tev2.

• myscope is a scopetag that identifies the current scope.

• latest is the vsntag for the default terminology of myscope.

• the default kind of semantic unit documented within myscope is use-case.

terminology-identifier	full terminology-identifier:
party	`use-case:party@myscope:latest
party@tev2	`concept:party@tev2:terms
pattern:pic@tev2:latest	pattern:pic@tev2:latest
atjar@:terms	atjar@:terms