Key properties are defined in an XML file that is part of the application configuration: <app_config>.key_props.xml.

A new, empty version of this file is created whenever a new Oracle Commerce Developer Studio project is created. Editing this file and performing a Set Instance Configuration operation in Developer Studio causes a new set of key properties to be loaded into the system.

The DTD for the <app_config>.key_props.xml is located in $ENDECA_ROOT/conf/dtd/key_props.dtd. The contents of this DTD are:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--  Copyright (c) 2001-2014, Oracle, Inc.
      All rights reserved.
-->

<!ENTITY % common.dtd SYSTEM "common.dtd">
%common.dtd;

<!--  The KEY_PROPS top level element is the container for a set
      of KEY_PROP elements, each of which contains the
      "key properties" for a single dimension or property key.
-->
<!ELEMENT KEY_PROPS (COMMENT?, KEY_PROP*)>


<!--  A KEY_PROP element contains the list of property
      values associated with the dimension or property key
      specified by the NAME attribute.
-->
<!ELEMENT KEY_PROP (PROP*)>
<!ATTLIST KEY_PROP
    NAME  CDATA  #REQUIRED
>

Each KEY_PROPS element in the file corresponds to a single dimension or property and contains the key properties for that dimension or property. Key properties that do not refer to a valid dimension or property name are removed by the MDEX Engine at startup or configuration update time and are logged with error messages.

Here is an example of a key properties XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>
<!DOCTYPE KEY_PROPS SYSTEM "key_props.dtd">

<KEY_PROPS>
  <KEY_PROP NAME="Gross">      
    <PROP NAME="Units"><PVAL>$</PVAL></PROP>
    <PROP NAME="Description">
    <PVAL>Total sale amount, exclusive of any deductions.
    </PVAL>
    </PROP>
  </KEY_PROP>

  <KEY_PROP NAME="Margin">      
    <PROP NAME="Units"><PVAL>$</PVAL></PROP>
    <PROP NAME="Description">
    <PVAL>Difference between the Gross of the transaction
    and its Cost.</PVAL></PROP>
  </KEY_PROP>

</KEY_PROPS>