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Glossary

Definitions of NeoWiki terms. Concepts are capitalized. Used in the code and UI (Ubiquitous Language).

Subject

Data about one thing. Similar to an Item in Wikibase or a Page/SubObject in SMW.

Subjects have

  • An id: persistent identifier. Subject IDs start with s and are always 15 characters long (ADR 14)
  • A type: reference to a Schema. Example: Person, Company, Product, etc.
  • A label: the name of the subject. Example: "John Doe". This is a string, not a reference to a page.
  • statements: a list of Statements

Pages can have multiple Subjects (ADR 7). They can only have a single Main Subject. This Subject represents the same entity as the page itself. All other Subjects stored on a page are called Child Subjects.

TODO: The label of a main subject is the same as the page title.

Statement

Corresponds to one row in an infobox.

Statements have

  • A propertyName. Refers to the Property Definition with the same name.
  • A propertyType. This is the type of the referenced property at the time the Statement was last changed. This is called “the writer’s schema”. (”Property Type” was formerly “Value Format”)
  • A value of type Value

Example: Property Name "age" with Value 42 and Property Type number.

Value

Values have a type, for instance, "url". This is called the Value Type. NeoWiki has a predefined list of these Value Types.

Values can have multiple parts. For instance, a "url" value could be ["https://pro.wiki", "https://professional.wiki"].

Value Types:

  • StringValue, identified with string. A non-empty collection of strings
  • NumberValue, identified with number
  • BooleanValue, identified with boolean
  • RelationValue, identified with relation. A non-empty collection of Relation

Each Relation has

  • An id: persistent identifier. Relation IDs start with r and are always 15 characters long
  • A target: Subject ID of the referenced Subject
  • properties: Possibly empty collection of property-value pairs. TODO: rename like we did with statements

Schema

A Schema (ADR 6) defines a type of Subject. Examples: Person, Company, Product, etc.

Schemas have a name, description, and a list of Property Definitions

Property Definition

They always have a Property Name and a Property Type. Depending on the Type, they might have additional information. Property Types are registered via a plugin system and can be defined by extensions.

  • A name. Example: “Website”.
  • A type. Example: “url”. (formerly “format”)
  • Boolean required
  • Optional description string
  • Optional default, which is a Value
  • Constraints: validation and data rules specific to the Property Type. Example: ”minimum”: 42. Not overridable in Views.
  • Display Attributes: presentation configuration specific to the Property Type. Example: ”precision”: 2, ”color”: “blue”. These serve as defaults that can be overridden per-View via Display Rules.

View

A View (ADR 18) references a Schema and allows customized display of Subjects that use that Schema. The link is one-directional: Views reference Schemas, Schemas do not reference their Views.

Example: A company Schema has many properties. You want to display only some of them in your “Finances” page section. You create a finances View for that company Schema that shows only Revenue, Profit, and Assets.

Views have:

  • A Schema reference
  • A View Type, such as “infobox”, “factbox”, or “table”. View Types are registered via a plugin system.
  • Display Rules: an ordered list that specifies which properties to show and how (see below)
  • Settings: View-level configuration specific to the View Type (e.g., borderColor for infobox)
  • Optional description

When a Subject is displayed without a specified View, all properties are shown in Schema-defined order (fallback behavior). There is no stored “Default View” entity.

Display Rule

A Display Rule is an entry in a View's ordered allowlist. Each Display Rule references a property by name and optionally overrides Display Attributes for that property. Unlisted properties are hidden.

Display Rules have:

  • A property reference (the property name from the Schema's Property Definitions)
  • Optional Display Attributes overrides (e.g., precision, color). These override the defaults from the Property Definition. Unspecified Display Attributes are inherited from the Property Definition.