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9.5  User Defined Types: defining taxonomies and ontologies

You can create your own field types, known as user defined types, by saving a field type and re-naming it. You can also edit the field options for the user defined type. This is particularly useful for complex menus - you could create a complex menu type listing all countries, and reuse this wherever you have a class which uses a Country field.

Creating user defined types

  1. In the Form.pngClass Window, select a field on which you want to base your own user defined type.
  2. In the Field Options panel, click the Save.pngSave User Defined Type button.

    Save User Defined Type


  3. Enter a name for your user defined type (the name "Country" is used in the builtin mountains example catalog) and click OK. The user defined type is now added to the Field type menu. The new type has the same field options as the field you originally selected. You can re-define the options by editing the user defined type.

Using user defined types

When you add a field, the user defined types appear in the Field Type: menu, beneath all the standard types (Text Box, Menu etc). To use a user-defined type, just set the field type to the newly defined type ("Country" in the above example).

Editing user defined types

  1. The User Defined Types dialog is accessible from the Edit menu.

    Edit User Defined Types Menu Option


    Select Edit > User Defined Types. The following screen is displayed:

    Edit User Defined Types


  2. Select the user defined type that you want to edit by clicking it. The field options are displayed in the right hand panel.
  3. Edit the field options and close the window. Your changes are applied to the user defined type.
  4. You can create user defined types by converting existing field specifications or by adding new types with the type editing dialog.

    Adding User Defined Types



To edit a user defined type, you can also select a field that uses the user defined type and click the UserType.pngEdit User Defined Type button in the Field Options panel. This button only becomes active if you select a field that uses a user defined type.

Edit User Defined Type




You can Add.pngAdd, Remove.pngRemove and Duplicate.pngDuplicate user defined types, using the toolbar buttons. These options are also available from the right-click menu. To rename a user defined type, double-click on the name in the list.


When you add a field, the user defined types appear in the Field Type: menu of the field details panel.