RIMMF's 'Access Point Builder' is a tool to facilitate the construction of access points in RDA entities. In the program, this tool is referred to as the 'AP Builder' (not to be confused with an Application Profile)

The AP Builder is available for each access point element in a RIMMF template. The 'builder' has two modes: automatic, and guided ¹⁾.

AP Builder profiles are used to customize the behavior of the builder. In automatic mode, the builder profile governs the selection and ordering of the parts (“candidates”) of an access point; in guided mode, the builder profile has a similar function, but presents the candidates in an interactive mode, allowing the user to alter the selection and order of the candidates (see screenshot below). There is one builder profile assigned to each RDA entity.

The format of an ap builder profile is tab-delimited text. Each row in the file defines a candidate for an access point.

The following four columns, in the order given below, are required for each row.

1. RDA Element curie The curie of the element being referenced. Case-sensitive. Use the canonical form of the element. Example:

rdaa:P50111

2. Group code Each element is assigned a one-letter, uppercase Group Code (described in detail below). This code defines a behavior to be used by the builder when composing an access point. Each candidate belongs to one and only one group.

3. Sequence number The third column specifies the preferred order of a candidate during automated access point construction. The sequence is a simple enumeration, that begins with 1. This numbering is relative to each Group.

4. Note The last column contains a string of the user's choice. In a default AP Builder profile, this string will always be the RDA label of the element. Be careful not add any CRLFs to this column (which would break the tab-delimited format of the file).

Group codes explained

Membership in a 'group' is specified by one of the following uppercase letters: A, C, E, G, or Z.

'A' - Required.

One element from Group A should be present in the builder. The Group A candidate with the lowest sequence number will be automatically selected by the builder. Only one Group A candidate will be selected.

Example Group A candidate: Preferred Name/Title of Entity

'C' - One Or More.

If any elements from Group C are present in the builder, one of them must be selected. The Group C candidate with the lowest sequence number will be automatically selected in the builder. More than one Group C candidate may optionally be selected.

Example Group C Candidates: Content Type and Language of Expression.

'E' - All If Any.

If any elements from Group E are present in the builder, all of them will be automatically selected in the order of their Sequence numbers.

Example Group E Candidates: Number of Conference, Place of Conference, Date of Conference (in Corporate Body)

'G' - Displayed.

Elements from Group G are displayed in the builder but are never automatically selected.

'Z' - Trumps.

If an element from Group Z is present, it becomes the first item in the list and is automatically selected. If more than one Group Z candidate is present, the one with the lowest sequence number is selected.

Example Group Z Candidate: any of the 'Creator' elements in a Work

Example ap builder profile for the RDA Person entity:

rdaa:P50377	A	1	Access point for person
rdaa:P50111	A	4	Name of person
rdaa:P50117	A	2	Preferred name of person
rdaa:P50103	A	3	Variant name of person
rdaa:P50119	G	3	Place of birth
rdaa:P50118	G	4	Place of death
rdaa:P50121	C	1	Date of birth
rdaa:P50120	C	2	Date of death
rdaa:P50098	G	2	Period of activity of person
rdaa:P50110	G	1	Term of rank, honour, or office

Screenshot of the above profile being applied to an Authorized Access point element:

Notes

AP Builder profiles are located in the 'ap builder defaults' subdirectory of the RIMMF6 documents folder.

AP Builder profile filenames use the following format:

Rda entity - "apbuilder" - [sequence] - ".ini"

Example:

person apbuilder 01.ini

At present, only the “01” version of a profile is recognized by the program.