The SAS type dictionary
consists of a set of object type definitions. The dictionary is located
in a
Types subfolder of the
System folder in the SAS Management Console
Folders tree. Open the folder to see a complete list
of the object types that are managed by the type dictionary.
A type definition is
metadata that contains the information that is necessary to display
and manage instances of an object type in a SAS application. Whereas
an object’s
logical metadata definition contains information that describes a resource or information asset,
and this definition might configure the resource in the enterprise,
the
type definition contains information
that an application can use to display and manage the object, and
this definition represents the resource within the application.
A goal of the type dictionary
is to hide the details of logical metadata definitions from clients.
The type definition publishes the name of the primary metadata type
used to represent the object in the SAS Metadata Repository. However,
it internalizes the information needed to expand the logical metadata
definition. The primary metadata objects in logical metadata definitions
that conform to the type dictionary store the name of their type definition
in a PublicType= attribute. The SAS Open Metadata Interface GetMetadata
method supports a flag that clients can set to instruct the SAS Metadata
Server to use the type definition referenced in the PublicType= attribute
to expand an object’s logical metadata definition.