[topicmapmail] scoping names and variant names

[Richard Gregory]

Hi Jan,

Thanks for the answer. I understand that a variant, is a variant of a base name, and has a
relationship to the base name (as Lars points out). But, when does a name cease to be a variant,
and become a new name with a different scope? Is this just open to interpretation?

Perhaps my problem here is because I'm struggling to see the difference between the <scope>, and
the <parameter> within a <variant>, as both seem (to me) to "scope" the name, or "scope" its use.
For example, I have Jack Park's book, and I'm looking at the examples in Sam Hunting's chapter 6,
where he uses <scope> to provide different baseNames for "tomato" in different languages for
different users (could these also be viewed as variants, as they do have a relationship?), but
uses <variant> to provide a short version of the name ("TMT") for display on mobile phones, and
I'm struggling to see the difference.

Here is an example from a topic map I'm working on. I have a topic which is about the organism
yeast, which has the latin name saccharomyces-cerevisiae as a basename. I also have the official
english (scientific) name "baker's yeast" as a base name with a scope "english". However, I also
want to include the common name, "yeast", which at present I have as a variant of "baker's yeast"
(as below). Is this correct, or should this be a new base name with the scope "common name"?

<topic id="t-saccharomyces-cerevisiae">
        <instanceOf>
            <topicRef xlink:href="#tt-species"/>
        </instanceOf>
        <baseName>
            <baseNameString>Saccharomyces Cerevisiae</baseNameString>
        </baseName>
        <baseName>
            <scope>
                <topicRef xlink:href="#st-EN"/>
            </scope>
            <baseNameString>Baker's Yeast</baseNameString>
            <variant>
                <parameters>
                    <topicRef  xlink:href="#t-common-name"/>
                </parameters>
                <variantName>
                    <resourceData>Yeast</resourceData>
                </variantName>
            </variant>
        </baseName>	
    </topic>  

Thanks for the continued help.

Richard.

--- Jan Algermissen <jalgermissen@topicmapping.com> wrote: > Richard Gregory wrote:
> > 
> > Hi All,
> > 
> > This may seem a really silly question, but I'm struggling to understand the difference between
> > scoping a <baseName>, and using a <variant> of a <baseName> in XTM. When would you use one,
> rather
> > than the other?
> 
> A variant name is *a variant of a name*, for example the same name
> as a GIF file.
> 
> It is not another name besides the basename.
> 
> HTH,
> 
> Jan
> 
> 
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > 
> > Richard.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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> -- 
> Jan Algermissen                           http://www.topicmapping.com
> Consultant & Programmer	                  http://www.gooseworks.org
>  



	
	
		
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