Attribute Box

For each attribute that is loaded into memory or computed, the dataset creates an instance of AttributeBox. This object holds all information about the attribute, such as the data, attribute name, version, type, if it is cached or in memory, and a corresponding instance of class Variable if this attribute is a variable. This information can be accessed by the AttributeBox methods get_data(), get_variable_name(), get_version(), get_type(), is_cached(), is_in_memory(), get_variable_instance(). The attribute box for a particular attribute can be accessed by the dataset method _get_attribute_box(attribute_name), where the attribute_name is given in one of the forms from Section 24.1.3.