Preference Framework
The Preferences Framework is based on the principle that a unique preference consists of the following attributes:
• Parent Node (or root node if at the top of the hierarchy)
• Preference Node (usually associated as a group of similar preferences)
• Preference Key
Together these attributes form a unique key structure of parent/node/key. This unique key structure will be referred to as the fully qualified preference key. To separate individual user and group preferences for the same fully qualified preference key, a context is applied to the preference.
The context consists of the following elements:
• Macro — a constant defining the type of context (see below)
• (optionally) Descriptor — text defining the name of the context.
These elements are placed together with a ’:’ to form the Preference Context.
The fully qualified preference key when placed together with a context will form a unique row in the database table, allowing users, and other divisions to have individual preferences.