About Instances

Instances are Definitions made into specific objects. In other words, an Instance is a concrete example of an abstraction. We make an instance by giving it a unique name, which ensures it can be distinguished from every other instance of the same definition. Instances are always based on specific definitions, however a unique feature of DMO is that we can change the definition associated with an instance. If we do this, any attributes that don't exist for the new definition may be lost. Instances may stand alone, or may be organized into one or more simple trees, which can start with any arbitrary instance as the root. By default, DMO will start display of trees with the first Location instance which it finds, allowing the trees to be organized geographically.

There are several ways in which instances may be viewed:

• Instance Tree -- this is the default, and starts with the first Location instance found. Any other instances should be organized as child instances of this tree.

• Instance List -- this will be shown whenever viewing a definition which has one or more instances associated with it.

• Instance Details -- this is a single page view of a single instance, showing all of its attributes (both core and normal), as well as child instances.

• Instance Selection -- this is a list of one or more instances, which are selected for some group operation, such as creation of a report.