[topicmapmail] SAM question

[Lars Marius Garshol]

* HERBUEL Alain
| 
| So the [source locators] makes sens only if I come from a
| deserialisation, for instance from XTM or RDF. If my information has
| been created directly in the SAM model, I don't need that mecanism.
| Right ?

Yes and no. It can be useful even so, in order to have stable
identifiers for your topics, or in order to do reification, but in
that case you are not required to use it, no.

You'd never use the model directly, of course. Instead you would use
some API that implements the model, or something close to it.
 
| What I don't understand now is why for instance a Topic may have
| many [source locators] ? If I come from a XTM file, each Topic has
| only one id ?  Same for every use of [source locators] in the SAM
| model.

This is because of merging. If there is no merging there is no way a
topic loaded from an XTM file can have more than one source locator,
but as soon as topics (or other items) merge that changes. This is why
so many properties in the model are sets.

-- 
Lars Marius Garshol, Ontopian         <URL: http://www.ontopia.net >
GSM: +47 98 21 55 50                  <URL: http://www.garshol.priv.no >