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Attribute values configuration

This page discusses what attribute values are, where they should be used, and how they can be defined.

See the Attributes page for general information about attribute columns, including when to use one, and a discussion of the difference between Resource attributes and Literal attributes.

For a detailed look at attribute values configuration options, see the Reference table at the bottom of this page.

What are attribute values?

Attribute values are the cell values in the attribute column of your CSV file. csvcubed will automatically generate RDF resources from the cell values if you specify the values field as true. However, it is also possible to explicitly configure attribute values, as described below.

When to use them

You should only configure the values field when using Resource attributes. Please note, the label field format should match the format of the attribute cell value exactly.

Basic configuration

Important

The format of the label field should match the cell values in your CSV exactly.

Year Region Value Status
2020 England 10.6 confidential
2021 Scotland 13.8 estimated
2022 Wales 9.43 forecast

To configure the values in your attribute column, specify the type of the column as attribute, and specify values as a list of objects defining the attributes used in the column:

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{
    "$schema": "https://purl.org/csv-cubed/qube-config/v1",
    "title": "The title of the cube",
    "description": "A description of the contents of the cube",
    "columns": {
        "Status": {
            "type": "attribute",
            "values": [
                {
                    "label": "confidential"
                },
                {
                    "label": "estimated"
                },
                {
                    "label": "forecast"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

This minimal definition results in:

  • the label being set as the specified value - remember, this must match the formatting of the cell values exactly.

Description and definition

Additional details can be associated with the attribute values in your data set through the description and definition_uri fields.

The description field can be used to provide a longer description of your attribute value. If you want to provide information about your methodology, the description field is the preferred place for this.

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{ ...
    "columns": {
        "Status": {
            "type": "attribute",
            "values": [
                {
                    "label": "confidential",
                    "description": "This observation is suppressed as its disclosure would give away confidential information. For example, if you would be able to identify details about a single respondent from the data."
                },
                {
                    "label": "estimated",
                    "description": "This observation is an estimate. Where an entire data set is estimated this should be stated in the title or accompanying information rather than providing this observation status on every observation. Not to be confused with f = forecast."
                },
                {
                    "label": "forecast",
                    "description": "This observation is a calculated future value instead of an observed value. Not to be confused with e = estimated."
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

The definition_uri fields allows you to refer to external resources that further define the attribute values:

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{ ...
    "columns": {
        "Status": {
            "type": "attribute",
            "values": [
                {
                    "label": "confidential",
                    "definition_uri": "https://github.com/GSS-Cogs/reusable-rdf-resources/blob/main/rdf-definitions/attributes/analyst-function-obs-marker.csv"
                },
                {
                    "label": "estimated",
                    "definition_uri": "https://github.com/GSS-Cogs/reusable-rdf-resources/blob/main/rdf-definitions/attributes/analyst-function-obs-marker.csv"
                },
                {
                    "label": "forecast",
                    "definition_uri": "https://github.com/GSS-Cogs/reusable-rdf-resources/blob/main/rdf-definitions/attributes/analyst-function-obs-marker.csv"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

Inheritance

To reuse or extend an existing attribute value, the from_existing field can be configured to link to a URI where the value to be reused or extended is defined.

To reuse a parent attribute value without making any changes to it, set the from_existing field to the URI defining the attribute to be reused.

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{ ...
    "columns": {
        "Status": {
            "type": "attribute",
            "values": [
                {
                    "label": "confidential",
                    "from_existing": "https://purl.org/csv-cubed/resources/attributes/af-obs-marker#c"
                },
                {
                    "label": "estimated",
                    "from_existing": "https://purl.org/csv-cubed/resources/attributes/af-obs-marker#e"
                },
                {
                    "label": "forecast",
                    "from_existing": "https://purl.org/csv-cubed/resources/attributes/af-obs-marker#f"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

To extend a parent attribute value and create a new value from it, set the from_existing field to the URI defining the value to be reused, and set the label field to indicate that this is a new child attribute of the parent, ensuring that the formatting of the label exactly matches the values in the attribute column:

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{ ...
    "columns": {
        "Status": {
            "type": "attribute",
            "values": [
                {
                    "label": "Confidential value",
                    "from_existing": "https://purl.org/csv-cubed/resources/attributes/af-obs-marker#c"
                },
                {
                    "label": "Estimated value",
                    "from_existing": "https://purl.org/csv-cubed/resources/attributes/af-obs-marker#e"
                },
                {
                    "label": "Forecast value",
                    "from_existing": "https://purl.org/csv-cubed/resources/attributes/af-obs-marker#f"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

Reference

field name description default value
label The title of the attribute (Required) none
description A description of the contents of the attribute (Optional) none
from_existing The URI of the resource for reuse/extension (Optional) none
definition_uri A URI of a resource to show how the attribute is created/managed (Optional) none