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Examples

Examples illustrate conformant graph patterns. Validate any capsule against the appropriate SHACL file before treating it as normative proof — see Alignment and conformance.

Published canonical examples

Section titled “Published canonical examples”

These files are hosted on ontology.commonapproach.org:

File Description Validate with
CIDSBasicZerokitsTestData-SHARED.json Zero Waste Meal Kits — org → outcomes → indicators → reports, plus Address and Population nodes (Essential-related). Nodes also include the SFF context URL for shared hosting Prefer cids.essentialtier.shacl.ttl (or sff.shacl.ttl if treating dual context as SFF-ready). Basic Tier SHACL alone may not cover Address/Population
CIDSBasictestandSFFSampleData.json Same organization plus SFF companion nodes (OrganizationProfile, EDG profiles, FundingStatus, funder org placeholder) sff.shacl.ttl

Public URLs above are authoritative.

Minimal Basic Tier pattern

Section titled “Minimal Basic Tier pattern”

Every node object includes @context, @type, and @id. The organization anchors outcomes; outcomes link themes and indicators; reports link indicators.

{
  "@context": "https://ontology.commonapproach.org/contexts/cidsContext.jsonld",
  "@type": "cids:Organization",
  "@id": "https://example.org/Organization/demo",
  "hasLegalName": "Demo Organization",
  "hasOutcome": ["https://example.org/Outcome/main"],
  "hasIndicator": ["https://example.org/Indicator/primary"]
}

A complete minimal capsule adds Outcome, Indicator, IndicatorReport, and Theme nodes with cross-links — see the Zero Waste example for a full working graph (that file also includes Essential-tier nodes beyond this minimal pattern).

Realistic patterns in the Zero Waste capsule

Section titled “Realistic patterns in the Zero Waste capsule”

From CIDSBasicZerokitsTestData-SHARED.json:

  • Stable org namespace — https://zerowastemealkits.ca/Organization/zerowastemealkits
  • SDG theme IRIs — https://metadata.un.org/sdg/12, /sdg/2 on outcomes via forTheme
  • Many-to-many — multiple indicators per outcome; multiple reports per indicator
  • Address and Population as linked nodes (Essential-related patterns)
  • Dual @context — CIDS + SFF context URLs on each node (even when SFF-specific classes are absent)

SFF extension pattern

Section titled “SFF extension pattern”

CIDSBasictestandSFFSampleData.json adds:

  • Dual @context array (CIDS + SFF contexts)
  • OrganizationProfile with team/board profiles and EDG characteristics
  • FundingStatus with FundingState code list reference
  • Secondary funder Organization placeholder

Validate with sff.shacl.ttl, not Basic Tier SHACL alone.

Anti-patterns (illustrative)

Section titled “Anti-patterns (illustrative)”

Missing @id on entity

Section titled “Missing @id on entity”
{
  "@context": "https://ontology.commonapproach.org/contexts/cidsContext.jsonld",
  "@type": "cids:Outcome",
  "hasName": "Reduce waste"
}

Fails: SHACL expects IRIs for entity nodes; importers cannot merge stably.

Theme as free text only

Section titled “Theme as free text only”
"forTheme": [{ "hasName": "SDG 12" }]

Fails or degrades interoperability: Prefer https://metadata.un.org/sdg/12 or a documented code list URI.

Valid SHACL but incomplete for a funder

Section titled “Valid SHACL but incomplete for a funder”

A capsule may pass sff.shacl.ttl yet lack fields a specific program requires (e.g. optional OrganizationID). See SHACL validation vs. funder requirements.

Validate an example

Section titled “Validate an example”
Terminal window
shacl validate \
  -s sff.shacl.ttl \
  -d CIDSBasictestandSFFSampleData.json \
  > report.ttl

Or use CIDS-validate.sh with --codelists for code-list-aware validation. Hosted validation: Working with capsules.

Section titled “Related”