7 Creating characteristics and feature groups

Characteristics are specific types of data that you can use in a service in Oracle Communications Design Studio PSR Designer. Feature groups are sets of characteristics that you want to use together. You can define characteristics in PSR Dictionary or from within products, CFSs, RFS, and resources.

Topics in this document

• About characteristics and feature groups
• Creating characteristics in PSR Dictionary
• Creating feature groups in PSR Dictionary
• Creating characteristics and feature groups in PSR Designer
• Viewing characteristics and feature groups

About characteristics and feature groups

A characteristic is a type of data with particular properties. The types are boolean, date and time, numeric, and text. For example, a characteristic can be an ID, a feature, a zip code, or a telephone number. You can combine characteristics into feature groups and use a characteristic in multiple entities.

You can define characteristics and feature groups in these ways:

• In PSR Dictionary, you can define certain basic information. Define characteristics here if you want to propagate a certain pattern across diagrams, for example, how a telephone number is set up in your system.

• When defining an entity, you can add a previously defined characteristic or feature group or create new ones. Characteristics you define in an entity then show up in PSR Dictionary. There's certain information you can only add to a characteristic at the entity level, such as cardinality, the minimum and maximum number of instances of a characteristic.

Deleting a characteristic or feature group from within an entity just removes it from the entity. Deleting a characteristic or feature group in PSR Dictionary deletes it from the system. You can't delete a characteristic or feature group that's being used in an in-progress or launched initiative.

Rules for characteristic names and IDs

To avoid errors when importing into the Design Studio Eclipse environment, follow these guidelines for characteristic names and IDs:

• You can use uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers.
• Use only a letter for the first character, and either a letter or number for the last character.
• You can have spaces and underscores within the name.
• Don't use any special characters other than underscores.

Creating characteristics in PSR Dictionary

To create a characteristic in PSR Dictionary:

1. Click Create Characteristic.

   The Create Characteristic dialog box appears.

2. Enter a name and optional description, and specify an initiative.

   See Rules for characteristic names and IDs.

3. Select a type.
4. You can update the ID or keep the default, which is the characteristic name. The ID must be unique in the system.

   After you finish creating the characteristic, you can't change the type or ID.

   The characteristic's page appears.

5. You can optionally change the name and description. For characteristic types except boolean, there's a Configuration section, where you enter different values depending on the type.

   For text characteristics, you can specify a regular expression and an enumeration style to control how the text is presented in a run-time application.

6. For numeric and text characteristics, optionally specify valid values. Click Valid Values in the section list, click the Create Valid Value icon, enter a name and optional description, and then specify values.
7. Click the Previous page arrow at the top left of the page to complete creating the characteristic.

Creating feature groups in PSR Dictionary

To create a feature group in PSR Dictionary:

1. Click Create Feature Group.

   The Create Feature Group dialog box appears.

2. Enter a name and optional description, and specify an initiative.

   See Rules for characteristic names and IDs.

3. You can update the ID or keep the default, which is the feature group name. The ID must be unique in the system.

   After you finish creating the feature group, you can't change the type or ID.

   The feature group's page appears.

4. Click Characteristics under Sections, then add new or existing characteristics. Set cardinality for each one. See About cardinality.

   From here, you can also click any characteristic to edit it.

5. Click the Previous page arrow at the top left of the page to complete creating the feature group.

Creating characteristics and feature groups in PSR Designer

When defining a product, CFS, RFS, or resource, you can create a new characteristic or feature group. To do this:

1. In the Characteristics section of the entity, click the Create Characteristic icon at the top right.

   The Create Characteristic dialog box appears.

2. Enter a name and optionally a description.

   See Rules for characteristic names and IDs.

3. Select a type. If you're creating a feature group, select it as the type.
4. You can update the ID or keep the default, which is the characteristic name. The ID must be unique in the system.

   After you finish creating the characteristic, you can't change the type or ID.

5. Click Create.

   The characteristic appears in the Characteristics section.

6. Optionally, you can set the cardinality on this page. See About cardinality.
7. If your characteristic type is date and time, numeric, or text, configure it as follows:
   1. Click the characteristic name.

      The characteristic's page appears.

   2. In the Characteristic Details section, click View beneath the Attribute field.

      The Basic Details page for the characteristic appears.

   3. In the Configuration section, specify the values relevant to the type of characteristic. For example, for a text characteristic, enter the minimum and maximum number of characters.
   4. For numeric and text characteristics, optionally specify valid values. Click Valid Values in the section list, click the Create Valid Value icon, enter a name and optional description, and then specify values.
   5. Click the Previous page arrow at the top left of the page.
8. If your characteristic type is feature group, add characteristics:
   1. Click the characteristic name.

      The characteristic's page appears.

   2. In the Characteristic Details section, click View beneath the Attribute field.

      The Basic Details page for the characteristic appears.

   3. In the Characteristics section, add new or existing characteristics. Set cardinality for each one. See About cardinality.
   4. Click the Previous page arrow at the top left of the page.

The characteristic you create here is also available in PSR Dictionary.

Viewing characteristics and feature groups

You can view the details of any characteristic and feature group in PSR Dictionary.

On the landing page, find and select a characteristic or feature group:

• You can filter the list by initiative or date in the Filter By section.

• You can include characteristics and feature groups from released initiatives. Select All Initiatives under Initiative and select Include release content below the filters. You can't filter by a specific released initiative.

You can view the entities and feature groups that use a characteristic. Select the characteristic on the PSR Dictionary landing page, then select Used By in the Sections list.