A composite property allows you to store multiple values or sets of values that are based on one or more existing custom properties, and group and refine the metadata that your users use to describe the documents and folders in your system.
Composite properties also allow users to store differing numbers of values in a single property. In the custom properties of a document or folder, the user can add values to, change existing values in, or remove values from a composite property at any time.
You can perform a search to locate documents, folders, and workflow items based on composite property values just as you would when searching on any document or folder property.
The following examples show how you might use composite properties:
- You define a composite property to store values using a single custom property. In this example, suppose you are tracking test scores for a student. Whenever a student repeats a test, the user tracking the test scores must add the new score to the Test Results property in that student's document. For one student, the score might contain one value, and for another it may contain fifteen values.
- You define a composite property to store sets of values using multiple custom properties. Expanding on the previous example, suppose the user tracking the test scores needs to enter a date along with each test score and a flag value that indicates whether a retest is required. This expanded Test Results property contains one property set for a student who has taken the test only once, but for a student who has taken the test and then retested five times, it contains six property sets, each with its own score, date, and retest values.