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Shadow Records

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What is a Shadow Record

 

One unique feature of Istoriam is its capability of structuring data in hierarchical structures.

 

One restriction of this feature though is that a record can be the child of one and only one parent. That creates some form of a challenge when there is a need to have a record appears or be part of multiple hierarchies. 

 

Take for example the case of a conflict that occurred between two countries: country1 and country2. The events associated with that conflict can be structured under a hierarchy that covers country1. Similarly, they can also be structured under a hierarchy that covers country2. Without the new Shadow records, you will have had to select one country's hierarchy to set the conflict records under and then, either add some notes that refer to those records under the second country's hierarchy or completely duplicate the records under each hierarchy. Both of those options are not practical and prone to error and loss of synchronization (one record is updated but not the notes or the duplicates).

 

With Shadow records, you can now set the records under one hierarchy, then create shadow records of them under the other hierarchies. The shadow records automatically integrate the original record information. Shadow records are also automatically updated whenever that original record is changed.

 

Because a Shadow record shadows another record and is not independent by itself, only the following attributes can be edited with a Shadow record:

  • Font color

  • Set of tags

  • Level value

  • Parent ID

 

All the other attributes are inherited from the original record and updated automatically whenever that original record is updated.

 

Please note that one record can have multiple Shadow records.

Also note that if the original record is deleted, all its shadow records will be deleted automatically.

Creating a Shadow Record

To create a Shadow record, right click on the record that you want to shadow and then select the 'Create Shadow' from the menu that will appear.

The Record Management Window will then appear pre-populated but with most of the attributes disabled. For a shadow record you can only set the following attributes

  • Font color

  • Set of tags

  • Level value

  • Parent ID

Set those attributes as required for the shadow then click on the 'Shadow' button in the window's console. A shadow record is then created. Note the brackets around the record title. They are used to indicate that this record is a Shadow record.

The Shadow record will highlight the same content as the record it shadows.

 

You can delete, edit and duplicate a Shadow record.

Right clicking on a Shadow record will highlight a menu that will offer the option of 'Go to original'. This will center the display on the original record where you can edit the rest of the record's attributes.

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