Introduction to Semantic Components

A Semantic Component (sComponent) is a Flex component or widget that takes record(s) description(s) and structXML schema(s) as input, and then outputs some (possibly interactive) visualization(s) of that record. Depending on the logic described in the input schema(s) and the input record(s) description(s), the Semantic Component may behave differently or provide presentation options to users. Each Semantic Component delivers a very focused set of functionality or visualization. Multiple components may be combined on the same canvas for more complicated displays and controls.

Semantic Components are driven by user interactions, with the actual widget or display type determined by the particular results at hand:



Overview
All of the individual Semantic Components (see next) are contained within the Semantic Component library. This library is what is available and gets invoked with the Semantic Components are installed.

The evaluation of results sets in relation to the SCO ontology (see below) and what widgets are presented for possible display are contextually determined by the Portable Control Application. How sComponents are arranged and presented is governed by their layouts; they may also be separately styled and themed.

There is also a glossary of terms related to sComponents.

Components
The components presently available to the system include:


 * sControl
 * sGenericBox
 * sHBox
 * sImage
 * sMap
 * sRelationBrowser
 * sText
 * sWebMap

Some of the sComponents are themselves partially dependent on external libraries.

Ontologies
The overall control structure that relates various types or classes of data to specific widgets that might display them is the SCO Ontology. The SCO ontology also sets other display and presentation options for the sComponent widgets in combination with other domain and data ontologies available to the system.

Data
Data exchange between Semantic Components and with the OSF Web Service endpoints is done via the structXML format.