Initializing the Prompt Tab

Once you have enabled your project to
use the Prompt tab, you can merge, extract, include, or compare projects by
initializing the tab. For merge, extract, and compare, Protégé works on a
copy of each project you select, leaving the original ontology and source files
unchanged. If you are moving frames from an included to an including project,
the projects are not changed at this point; however, both projects will be
altered later, when you actually save the working project after you have moved
selected frames.
To initialize PROMPT:
- If you have created a new project, and you have not yet saved it, save it before you initialize PROMPT. This will tell PROMPT where to
store its log.
- Click the Prompt tab. If the Prompt Tab displays a window with subtabs and
options, then it has already been initialized. If the Prompt tab does not appear, you need to
enable PROMPT in your project first. See Enabling
the Prompt Tab
for more information.

- Click anywhere in the Prompt Tab area to initialize PROMPT.
The Open dialog box is displayed.

- Select the desired operation from the pull down menu.

- Click the
button(s) to select the
file(s) you want to use. For merge and compare
modes, you need to select two
files. For extract and move
frames modes, you need to select one file. See the descriptions of each
mode for more information.
- To help you keep track of your ontologies, Protégé attaches a suffix to
each frame in the projects you pull in. This suffix, the "Alias",
that indicates the source project of the frame. By default, it is usually
the name of the original project, except in the case of compare, where the
two files are called "old" and "new". To edit this
suffix, simply edit the text in the Alias entry box. Note that once
you have finished making all the changes in your project, you can remove
suffixes using the Prompt menu.
- If you are merging large ontologies (several thousand frames each), you can disable the Compare
sources option. Normally, if you have selected merge, Protégé will
load all the frames from both ontologies into your working memory. For
most merges, this default behavior is the best option. However, if the
original ontologies are extremely large, this can be very expensive,
consuming a lot of resources. You can limit the scope of the merge by deselecting the Compare
sources option. This option is valuable if Protégé hangs during your merge.
- Once you have made all your selections, click OK to initialize PROMPT.
Once PROMPT has been initialized, Protégé loads the appropriate
information from the source files and prepares its suggestions. The Prompt tab
changes to reflect the choices you made during initialization.
Next: Merge Mode
Prompt Table of Contents