2.3. The "CGDB" ID

Shading Product Unique Identifiers in the CGDB

In the traditional CGDB database schema, shade materials are stored in the ShadeMaterial table and uniquely identified by the ID column.

However, these shade materials are also stored in the GlazingProperties table, as a way to link them to spectral measurement data stored in the SpectralData table. Therefore, for rows in the GlazingProperties table that correspond to a shade material, the NFRC_ID column is used as an informal foreign key to link to the GlazingProperties.ID column.

Unfortunately, one must then remember that for rows in the GlazingProperties table that correspond to shade materials, the NFRC_ID column isn't really an NFRC ID.

Storing CGDB Identifiers for Shade Materials in the IGSDBv2.

In the IGSDBv2, the user is encouraged to use the token slug, uuid UUID4 identifier, or product_id integer as a way of uniquely identifying any product, glazing or shading. However, as explained elsewhere in these docs, the IGSDBv2 also stores identifiers for products that were imported from the IGDB or CGDB...mainly for consistency and for software applications that need this historical data.

Therefore, for shade material products imported from the CGDB, this legacy identifier (the CGDB ShadeMaterial.ID column) is stored in a Product's cgdb_id property. This property is shown in the IGSDBv2 user interface and the API.

Storing CGDB Identifiers for Shading Layers in the IGSDBv2.

As noted in the Types and Subtypes help page, the IGSDBv2 attempts to reorganize shade materials and shading layers under a new type/subtype system, where shade materials and the various shade layers are all categorized as subtypes under a single SHADING type...e.g. shade materials are type SHADING and subtype SHADE_MATERIAL, cellular blinds are type SHADING and subtype CELLULAR_BLIND, and so on.

So the IGSDB must also remember the legacy CGDB ID for shading layers, which are stored in a different table in the CGDB: the ShadingLayer table, which has its own ID column.

The IGDBv2 stores this ID in the same cgdb_id property. This means that, depending on the product subtype, the cgdb_id property in the IGSDBv2 can refer to either a shade material or a shading layer's ID from the CGDB.

Therefore, when looking at type SHADING products in the IGSDBv2, the user should remember that a Product's cgdb_id property can refer to either a CGDB shade material ID or a CGDB shading layer's ID.

To recap:

• If a product is type SHADING and subtype SHADE_MATERIAL, the cgdb_id property corresponds to the ID column of the ShadeMaterial table in the CGDB.
• If a product is type SHADING and any other subtype, the cgdb_id property corresponds to the ID column of the ShadingLayer table in the CGDB.