Dropping Triples

Discovered another neat labor saving TopBraid Composer feature. Lets say you create a new property, apply it to an instance with some value, then need to repeat for oodles more instances of the same class, or may apply over various classes. Select the instances that you want to update and drag them in the Basket.

Now go to Window > Show View > Triples. The Triples window will appear, then check the ontology you want to work with, click the first "triple" icon, and navigate to and select the instance where you have already applied the property that you want to copy. Once you have a list of all triples where that instance is the subject shall appear.

Now the neat part. Select the triple(s) that you want to apply to instances in your basket, and simply drag and drop them on. A prompt will appear to ask if you want to apply the triple to the all individuals in the basket, making them the subject, click "Yes" and voila! You've just saved yourself a lot of repetition.

Neat feature #2:

I've been seeing the not-so-intuitive icon around, wondering what it was and never using it. Now its my favorite feature. Visually I thought it looked like something was being downloaded or saved. Its a reference finder, maybe binoculars would be a better mnemonic, I can't suggest anything sensible that makes for a better "reference" image. Select a property, class or instance, double click it to load it into a form. Then hit the "Find references" button, a tab will open in the lower pane with the label "Reference" and shows you call cases where that entity shows up in a triple.

Very handy if you're considering deleting an item, check first if it is referenced anywhere.