MetaEd IDE (ATOM) - Reviewing Warnings

Occasionally, there may be known issues preventing the use of otherwise valid extension scenarios or cases where an extension scenario is not fully supported in the Ed-Fi Technology. Where possible, the MetaEd IDE provides warnings when an extension project contains extension definitions that are not fully supported. In most cases, an extension project with these warnings will still successfully build in the MetaEd IDE, despite the known downstream issues.

Step 1. View Warning List

In some cases, the core data standard may contain some elements that would not be fully supported as extension scenarios. The risks associated with these activities are carefully mitigated by additional development activities undertaken by the technical team that publishes the core data standard. These warnings are displayed for the benefit of the technical team that maintains the core data standard and may be disregarded by users outside this group. Begin by reviewing the list of warnings to determine if any of the warnings apply to the extension project. In this example, two of the warnings apply to the extension project.

Step 2. Obtain Additional Details

Most validator warnings include an Ed-Fi Tracker ticket number, along with a description of the behavior that prompted the warning. View the Ed-Fi Tracker ticket by visiting https://tracker.ed-fi.org and typing the ticket number (with prefix) into the search box in the upper right-hand corner. 

Review the ticket to get a full understanding of the downstream implications of including the extension behavior in question. Comments on the ticket (toward the bottom of the page) may provide insight on the issue, as well as suggestions from Ed-Fi technical team-members or community members. 

Step 3. Review Alternate Approaches

Review the Ed-Fi Extension Framework to determine if there are other supported extension techniques that may meet your modeling needs.

Step 4. Make Adjustments As Necessary

Once you have a full understanding of the issue in question and have evaluated all of the available choices, make any needed adjustments to your extension project. Note that the warning list will then update accordingly.

Step 5. Provide Feedback and Monitor

Sometimes, an alternate or workaround method for modeling an extension may not be ideal. In these cases, be sure to provide feedback to Ed-Fi on the Ed-Fi Tracker ticket listed in the warning message. This ensures that Ed-Fi has an appropriate sense of the scale of a reported issue. Once you've added a comment to an Ed-Fi Tracker ticket, you will receive automated updates from Ed-Fi Tracker as the discussion continues or when progress is made on the ticket.*

*Assumes default notification settings in Ed-Fi Tracker