Using the SAS Metadata Model

Understanding the PrimaryType and SecondaryType Abstract Types

Beginning in SAS 9.2, the SAS Metadata Model type hierarchy has two abstract metadata types directly under the Root metadata type:

PrimaryType: Categorizes and defines properties for metadata types that are intended to be used as the primary or top-level metadata object in a logical metadata definition. Also, metadata types that provide supporting information in a logical metadata definition, and can be added, updated, secured, and deleted independently of their primary object. A PrimaryType object that provides supporting information and can be added, updated, secured, and deleted independently of its primary object is referred to as a public component. For a listing of PrimaryType subtypes, see PrimaryType.

SecondaryType: Categorizes metadata types that are intended to be secondary in a logical metadata definition. A SecondaryType object provides supporting information. A SecondaryType object cannot be shared by two PrimaryType objects. In addition, it cannot have separate security defined on it. A SecondaryType object inherits security from its owning PrimaryType object or public component. It should be copied, moved, and deleted when the owning PrimaryType object is copied, moved, or deleted. For a list of SecondaryType subtypes, see SecondaryType.

PrimaryType metadata types have the following properties that are not supported for SecondaryType metadata types. These properties can be used to manage the entity described by the logical metadata definition.

PublicType= attribute: Reserved for internal use. Specifies the name of a type definition in the SAS type dictionary. The SAS type dictionary includes definitions for the common object types used by all SAS 9.2 Phase 2 applications. The common object types are referred to as public objects. The definitions have all of the information necessary to display, import, export, and delete SAS 9.2 Phase 2 objects in a SAS 9.2 Phase 2 application. This information includes a template that identifies all of the metadata types and associations that describe the object in a SAS Metadata Repository. A limited set of type definitions are defined in SAS 9.2, which are supported for internal use only.
Trees association: Specifies a container for the logical metadata definition on the SAS 9.2 Management Console Folders tab. This is also the container from which the logical object inherits security. A logical object must have a valid PublicType= value to be displayed on the Folders tab.
ResponsibleParties association: Identifies the responsibilities and responsible identities for the logical object.
Keywords association: References a single word that can be used to identify the object. In SAS 9.1.3, a Keyword object could be shared. In SAS 9.2, Keyword is a SecondaryType metadata type and cannot be shared.
Notes association: Lists Note objects that contain internal information about the logical object.
Documents association: Lists Document objects that contain shareable information about the logical object.
Extensions association: Defines additional attributes for the object that are not part of the PrimaryType subtype.

The PrimaryType and SecondaryType abstract metadata types provide optional groupings. SAS 9.2 Phase 2 applications respect the groupings and maintain PrimaryType properties to manage objects. The groupings are publicized to external customers for the informational purpose of consistency in metadata definitions. SAS does not support the use of the SAS type dictionary by external clients in SAS 9.2. SAS does not support custom type definitions.

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