HP System Dictionary/XL General Reference Manual Vol 1 (32256-90004)

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versions within a domain. Note that this domain could be either the common domain or a local domain.
Figure 4-2. Versions
Versions As Copies
You can also think of versions as copies of the entities and relationships in a domain. In this sense, the
version feature allows the creation of different versions of entities and relationships. For example, a
domain called ADDRESSES contains two versions, ADRSHORT and ADRLONG. Both versions contain an
entity called ZIP-CODE of type RECORD, which is described by the attribute BYTE-LENGTH. In version
ADRSHORT the value of BYTE-LENGTH is 5, meaning that the entity ZIP-CODE in this version
describes a 5-digit zip code. In version ADRLONG, however, the value of the attribute BYTE-LENGTH is
changed to 9. The entity ZIP-CODE in version ADRLONG is therefore a different version of the entity ZIP-
CODE in version ADRSHORT, and describes a 9-digit zip code.
You can copy an entire set of version occurrences from one version to another. This is useful, for example,
when creating a test version with all the occurrences of the current production version. Note, however,
that it is not necessary for each version of a domain to contain all the entities and relationships in that
domain. A version of a domain can contain more occurrences than other versions of the domain, or fewer, or
may even be empty (a newly created version is always empty).
With certain exceptions, the attribute values of a given entity or relationship may vary from one version to
another. In fact, the main purpose of the version feature is to allow you to experiment with one version by
changing attribute values or adding new definitions while other versions remain undisturbed.