Structure IDs, Names and Descriptions
Overview
Identifiable structures are identified by an ID which must be unique within their context.
Maintainable and Nameable structures are also Identifiable and therefore must have an ID, but in addition have a Name, and an optional Description.
ID
An ID is a string that is mandatory for Identifiable structures and serves as a unique reference as part of each structure's URN.
IDs must be unique within their context. For instance the ID of each Concept must be unique within its Concept Scheme. However, Concepts in different Concept Schemes can have the same ID.
| Allowable Content | Example |
|---|---|
| Alpha Numeric | A-Z a-z 0-9 |
| Dollar | $ |
| Hyphen | - |
| Underscore | _ |
By covention, IDs are uppercase, but lowercase characters can also be used.
ID Examples:
| Agency | SDMX |
| Agency | IMF |
| Concept Scheme | CROSS_DOMAIN_CONCEPTS |
| Codelist | CL_REF_AREA |
| Codelist | CL_FREQ |
| Data Structure Definition | ECOFIN_DSD |
| Dataflow | WDI_HEALTH |
| Dimension | FREQ |
| Dimension | REF_AREA |
| Attribute | OBS_STATUS |
Name
A Name is a string that is mandatory for Maintainable and Nameable structures providing a human-readable way to identify the structure.
Unlike an ID, a structure's name does not have to be unique within its context.
Names can be multilingual.
Name examples:
| Structure Type | ID | en | fr |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency | SDMX | SDMX | SDMX |
| Agency | OECD | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) | Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Économiques (OCDE) |
| Concept Scheme | CROSS_DOMAIN_CONCEPTS | SDMX Cross Domain Concept Scheme | |
| Codelist | CL_REF_AREA | Reference area code list | Liste des indicatifs régionaux de référence |
| Codelist | CL_FREQ | Frequency code list | Liste des codes de fréquence |
| Data Structure Definition | ECOFIN_DSD | ECOFIN data structure definition | |
| Dataflow | WDI_HEALTH | World Bank World Development Indicators Health |
