The following data-types are defined for Property values (see PROPERTY_VALUE) and Parameter values (see PARAM_VALUE). Although quite similar, the table indicates where there are necessary differences.
Properties embrace ‘orig-text’ and annotate it with a combination of ‘Key’ and/or ‘Value’ attributes. The ‘Value’ is considered optional if the orig-text contains the same textual representation, and a ‘Key’ is optional in those circumstances where an entity association is not available.
Parameters embrace an explicit ‘value’ and can annotate some cases with a ‘Key’ attribute. The ‘Key’ references are mandatory when interfacing to citation-templates if an object is to be passed. Parameters can also override the ‘value’ formatting using their ‘Subst’ attribute. During local Parameter substitution, the precedence is: ‘Subst’ attribute, any explicit ‘value’ (formatted according to data-type), any entity key name.
Data-type |
Description |
Property |
Parameter |
Text |
Simple text item (default data-type). |
[Value] |
value |
Integer |
Non-negative whole number. |
[Value] |
value |
Number |
Decimal number. |
[Value] |
value |
Measure |
Decimal number with units. |
Value, Units |
-- |
Boolean |
1=true, 0=false. |
[Value] |
value |
Date |
Requires an std-date date-value, or a <Date> date-entity (see Dates). |
[Value] |
value |
Enum |
Enumerated set of possible values. |
[Value] |
-- |
EnumList |
As per Enum but multiple entries can be concatenated with a period to create a dependent list, i.e. where each term is interpreted in the context of the previous one. |
Value |
-- |
PersonRef |
Person (or Contact) reference. |
[Key]
|
Key || value (one or both) |
PlaceRef |
Place reference. |
||
AnimalRef |
Animal reference. |
||
GroupRef |
Group reference. |
||
EventRef |
Event reference. |
||
PersonEL |
Subject entity together with a relative EnumList value. |
Key, [Value] |
-- |
PlaceEL |
|||
AnimalEL |
|||
GroupEL |
Prior to V4.1, a Date Parameter was restricted to ISO Gregorian dates; however, the full range of calendars is required for older sources, and a common example is citing newspapers that predate the Julian-to-Gregorian changeover.