It is common for assets to have attributes that are related, like city and state or company and address. In these cases, the metadata lookups feature can auto-fill certain attribute values based on specific criteria.
Key and target attributes
Key attributes
Key attributes act as triggers for the rest of the attributes in the lookup set. They are displayed with a key icon. When a key attribute is edited with a lookup value, each target attribute in the set will update according to that key value. If you are uncertain what values constitute a valid lookup, type "" (double quotes with no space) into the key value's input field to see a list of value suggestions in a dropdown menu.
Target attributes
Target attributes have values that are triggered based on the key attribute value for the lookup. They are displayed with a target icon. When a relevant key attribute is filled with a lookup value, every targeted attribute in the lookup will update with a value.
Using metadata lookups
Metadata lookups can only be used with text, text area, pulldown, and number type custom attributes.
Asset detail
On the Attributes tab of an asset's detail page , fill in a marked key attribute value to automatically populate target attribute values.
Quick edit
Select any number of assets and open quick edit. Fill in the key attribute to populate target attributes.
Grid editor
Metadata lookups can be used in the grid editor – but unlike other editing contexts, the lookup targets will only populate if you select them while editing the key attribute. Targeted attributes can be selected by highlighting an entire row, or by holding the control (Mac) / ctrl (Windows) button and clicking on individual cells. If some of the target attributes are selected, only those attributes will be affected by the key attribute. If there are no target attributes selected, editing the key attribute will not affect any of its targets regardless of its value.
On upload
Use the Edit attributes checkbox while uploading assets, then populate the key attribute with a valid lookup value. The target attributes will update accordingly.
Configuring metadata lookups
Creating a dataset
Metadata lookups require a .csv formatted file uploaded to the dataset manager. If you would like to know how to properly format a .csv file for upload into NetX, see Uploading Attribute Data.
In short, a properly formatted metadata lookup has:
- Column headers that match an existing custom attribute. Note that each attribute name must match exactly, including casing.
- Values under each column header that correspond to the column header attribute.
Designating attributes
Metadata lookups can only be configured for text, text area, pulldown, and number type custom attributes.
Each lookup consists of named custom attributes that already exist in NetX; these attributes act as either Key or Target attributes depending on which column they are assigned in the dataset.
- Key: The key attribute in a metadata lookup acts as a trigger for all other attributes in the set. If a user edits the key attribute in NetX with one of the values in that attribute's column, the values of the target attributes will update according to the other entries in that row of the dataset. The key attribute is always the attribute named in the first column of your dataset.
- Target: Every named attribute beyond the first column is a target attribute. When the key attribute is updated in NetX with one of the values in its column, each target attribute will update according to that value's row in the dataset.
Below is an example of a data file configured as a metadata lookup:
- Seasonal campaign is the key attribute.
- Description, Status, and Source are all target attributes.
- An exact value match for a Seasonal Campaign will then populate the Description, Status, and Source according to the value match's row.
Advanced settings
The following property is required in order to enable metadata lookups:
Month | Description |
---|---|
category.metadataDatasetLookupEnabled |
If this property's value is true, the metadata lookup feature will be enabled for your NetX instance. If this property is set to false, you will not be able to use the metadata lookup feature. Value options: true / false Requires restart? No |