Creating Entities

Entities form the foundation of metadata stored on the platform.

There are two ways to create an Entity using the Metadatify platform UI:

  1. Use the Create Portal to begin creating a new Entity. Select "Create" under the "Workspace" section of the navigation bar, and click "Create" within the Entity card.
  2. Directly begin creating a new Entity via the "Entities" listing page. Select "Entities" under the "View" section of the navigation bar.

Required Fields

Name: A name must be specified for each Entity. The names do not have to be unique, however unique names are strongly encouraged. There are no character restrictions for names.

Owner Entities must be assigned an owner. This can be either the current user, or another user.

Created: A date and time should be assigned marking when the Entity came into existence. This can be when it is inputted into Metadatify, or in the case of a physical Entity, when it was derived or created physcially.

Optional Fields

Optional fields are not required to create an Entity, but it strongly encouraged to populate these fields when creating an Entity.

Description: A description can be provided to give context to the name of the Entity. The description should not be a replacement for metadata which can be specified later on.

Projects: Entities can be added to existing Projects.

Relationships: Relationships can be created between Entities. Relationships can be directional (e.g. parent-child) or general. Specify the target Entity, then specify the type of relationship between these Entities. When creating parent or child directional relationships, the relationship is read from left-to-right like so:

Created Entity is the parent / child of Target Entity

Attributes: Attributes can be created and assigned to Entities. A Template Attribute can be utilized or a new Attribute can be created for that Entity. Attributes are explained in detail as part of the Metadatify Terminology and creating Template Attributes is discussed here: Creating Templates.