Modeler’s Guide#
With COGS, you can specify your information model in plain text. This section
describes the text and CSV files that define your model. COGS conventions are
case-sensitive contract data, even on Windows. COGS 2 models identify their
format with CogsVersion,2.0 in Settings/Settings.csv.
The required top-level directories are Settings, ItemTypes, and
CompositeTypes. Topics and Articles are optional. Do not rename,
pluralize, or change the case of any present convention path. See the normative
COGS 2 specification for the complete grammar and
serialization contract.
A COGS model consists of the following core components.
- Item Types
Item types are the identified entities in your model. They consist of definitions and properties.
- Composite Types
Composite types are complex types used as data types, but they are not identified.
- Settings
Settings define project-level information, including things like the title of your model, copyright information, and more.
- Topics
Topics allow you to describe subsets of your model, to make it easier for people to learn about your model.
- Articles
Articles allow you to include extra content in the documentation that is generated for your model.
- Primitive Types
COGS provides a number of primitive types you can use to define properties on items in your model.