Managing Repository Content
Using Schemas to Customize Metadata > About DCLs and Metadata Schemas

About DCLs and Metadata Schemas

The Information Fields tab of the Configuration Manager enables you to create custom metadata fields with option lists. Additionally, you can structure an information field to make its associated option list dependent on another information field’s option list. This organization is called a dependent choice list (DCL).

For example, assume there is an option list for a Country information field and another option list for a State information field. The available choices in the State option list would be dependent on which country was selected from the Country option list.

The metadata schema mapping feature is similar to the dependent choice list function in that a hierarchical structure can be created for information field option lists. However, the metadata schema mapping is more versatile. Option list views can be easily adjusted to accommodate localization requirements.

The Content Server metadata schema mapping feature involves the structure that is set up and used to manage information lists and corresponding option lists. A metadata schema defines the option lists (contained in database tables), the available choices (values in the table columns), and dependencies (relationships) between the choices and option lists.

Schemas can be complex to set up. If you have any questions prior to setting up a schema, contact Consulting Services to review your plans.

Note: Because Internet Explorer 5.0 does not support DHTML, any DCLs created using the Content Server schema mapping feature do not display the option list values. This is not an issue with Internet Explorer 6.0. When using schemas with Content Publisher, wrapping a query page in a table causes an error in Internet Explorer. This is caused by the interaction of schema with the page.

This section covers the following topics: