Attribute Values

Functions > IS Utilities > Attribute Values

Attribute Values are stored in the Student_Info.at_attribute_value table. They are managed from within SISAdmin. The window for this is in the menu Functions \ IS Utilities \ Attribute Values (near the bottom of the menu list).

Each Attribute Value should be placed into an Attribute Type, although it is not strictly necessary from a data structure view. The Attribute Type is groups related attribute together and is vehicle for assigning ownership and permissions. Review the Attribute Types before creating the new Attribute Value record. Most likely an appropriate Type already exists.

Another factor to consider is whether or not the value you are creating will be displayed or printed anyway. Many of the attribute values are used to mark distribution requirements and as such are printed in the Course Book or displayed in the Course Listings web application. Another group of attributes is used to indicate various options for University College courses, e.g. Weekend course, Online course, AccTrack course etc. Other attributes have been created to help manage production process or aid in evaluting courses and are not intended for display or printing, e.g. IS PROWL – Information Services Process Waitlist or FullTime – Full Time Status.

  • To create a new Value record click the “Add Row” or “Insert a New Row” button.
  • Select the Type from the drop down box. This can be done later. See Attribute Type for more detail.
  • Fill in a Short Name, Full Name, and Print Code. The Full Name will display in drop down list box controls in tools that allow you to assign attribute. If the attribute is printed or display on the web, the Print Code will be used. Review other codes on the window. There is NOT a uniqueness check.
  • Set the Display, Print, and Display UC boxes. The Display switch indicates whether or not the attribute is displayed in online Course Listings. Print controls whether or not in prints in the Course Book. And Display UC controls whether or not in displays in UC Online.
  • Set the Start Dt and End Dt. These generally control whether or not the values display in an administrative tool. They are NOT intended to control the use of the attribute once it has been assigned to a record.
  • Enter a Description and optionally a Long Description. These generally have not been used in display, but where intended for that purpose.
  • It is a good idea to create a unique Developer Code value. This was a later feature. Many of the implementations use the Value ID (an Identity Column) but this has the usual problems, e.g. making sure that prodcution and test stay in sync. The Developer Code was added to provide a hook into code.
  • Save your record.

Attribute Flags

  • There are a number of flags on the attribute record that control the behavior of courses with those attributes. These should be reviewed and set when an Attribute Value record is created

Display

  • Intended to control the display of the attribute as part of the section record in Course Listings. Yes means that the attribute should be included in the “Details” area of the section course display. This also controls which attributes show up in the Attributes box on the Search tab. Yes also means that attributes will appear on the SISAdmin Course Summary report.

Print

  • This controled which attributes were printed as part of the Bulletin print process in WUCRSL. It may stay play a role in the output of the course information for the Leepfrog buletin proces

Display UC

  • Controls which attributes display in the course listing information in UC Online. This should only be set to Yes by knowledgable administrators in University College.

Popup

  • A Course Popup is a mechanism that allows for the creation of a list of course results based on URL parameters see Course Popups. A course attribute can be used as part of the parameter mechanism, providing that the Popup flag is set to Yes. This mechanism allows control over which attributes can be included in popups.

Special

  • The Special Flag controls which attributes are included in the Special Course tab of Course Listings. This allows a group of courses to be prominately featurered, e.g. New Courses. When designating a Attribute Value with the Special = Yes flag, you should fill in the Long Desc field. This is the text that displays on the Special Course landing page.

Eval

  • This flag controls which attributes are sent up as part of the Course data provisioning to the Blue Course Eval system. Because of concerns about data load times, only attributes that figure in Eval decision logic should be included.