Any node in any library
(except document libraries) has the ability to classify whatever items it contains. That
is, any item placed in that library node, also referred to as a class, acquires from
that class a set of attributes that define the class. For example, there may be a class
node, such as a part family, called "Screws" in a part library, and Screws part family
has attributes "Thread Pitch" and "Length". Any part that is inserted into the Screws
part family "becomes" a screw and therefore acquires the attributes of Screws, which are
Thread Pitch and Length.
Library nodes, therefore, define classes by dictating a set of
attributes that make up that class.
Attributes associated with a class are clustered into groups. Any given
class can have any number of attribute groups. For example, the class Screws
could pick up an existing Pricing attribute group, as well as some other
attribute group--which could be called TpiAndLen--that contains Thread Pitch
and Length.
Attribute groups are inherited from a class by its children. Attribute
groups are just what their name implies: a list of standard attributes created
and grouped together under a descriptive name. For example, a librarian might
take attributes "Manufacturing Cost," "Dealer Cost," "Retail Price," and
"Minimum Advertised Price" and group them together into an attribute group
named "Pricing."
Attribute groups are used in classification with library nodes that
represent classes. Attribute groups have no other use beyond classification.
The attribute groups that define a class become part of the classified
items that get put into that class. So if object PT-00059 Rev A gets put into
"Screws," that particular object instance acquires the attribute groups
dictated by Screws and you can then see and edit those attributes. The Screws
part family itself does not instantiate the attributes in any way that you can
view or edit values. For example, you could not make the length of Screws be
2in, but you can make the length of PT-00059 Rev A be 2in.
When PT-00059 Rev A gets classified as Screws, it acquires the
attributes of Screws but does not automatically acquire any values for those
attributes.
IP Classification
uses the default value for that attribute (typically zero or an empty string),
and you can then edit the object to enter specific values.