Help with relocating concepts: "Replace with existing resource" vs. Moving Parents

[Anne Massenkeil]

Hi VocBench team and community,

I am looking for help with the taxonomy task of relocating a child concept to a different parent.

The Example:

I have a concept "Granny Smith" currently under the parent "Vegetables". I want to move it under the correct parent: "Fruits".

The Process:

In VocBench, I used the command "Replace with existing resource" on the broader property. I expected that "Vegetables" would be replaced by "Fruits," resulting in:

• Expected structure: Fruits > Granny Smith.

The Issue:

Instead, the new connection was established, but the concept is now visible in both hierarchies:

• Actual structure: Fruits > Granny Smith AND Vegetables > Granny Smith.

I understand from the documentation that "replace with existing resource" deletes the connection to the pointed resource, but the pointed resource is not deleted from the dataset.

However, when I tried to delete the connection under the "Vegetables" parent to clean up the taxonomy, it resulted in the concept being deleted entirely from the dataset.

My Question:

In a SKOS model, what is the correct workflow to "move" a concept from one parent to another so that 1) the old hierarchical connection is severed, 2) the new hierarchical connection is established and 3) the concept is displayed once within its new tree structure?

Thank you!

Anne

[stel...@uniroma2.it]

Dear Anne,

 

a first quick question: is it possible that you have validation active? In that case (need to verify but this is the first thing that comes to my mind) the tree would see the new connection but would also keep the old one until the action is validated and the old connection is finally deleted.

 

To get more evidence excluding a possible bug, I just tried it on the latest version we are working on and it properly works (it even updates the tree realtime, which is another thing that might not always happen, depending on the action). I don’t recall any bug being fixed on recent versions so there should be no bug.

 

About your second attempt, the concept has not been removed. Simply, it is dangling because it has no broader concept and it is not the root of any scheme. You can run the “dangling concepts” ICV from the tools menu and you will see it listed, with quick repair actions for setting it as top concept of some scheme or placing it under some concept.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Armando

 

Da: vocben...@googlegroups.com <vocben...@googlegroups.com> Per conto di Anne Massenkeil
Inviato: mercoledì 21 gennaio 2026 00:41
A: vocbench-user <vocben...@googlegroups.com>
Oggetto: [vocbench-user] Help with relocating concepts: "Replace with existing resource" vs. Moving Parents

This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "vocbench-user" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to vocbench-use...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/vocbench-user/94af7394-0d48-48b9-9e58-cb066b1c2c15n%40googlegroups.com.

[Anne Massenkeil]

Dear Armando, thanks for your quick response.

The project I was testing in isn't using validation but it's possible the bug is on our end.

To clarify the expected behavior: Does the "Replace with existing resource" operation always require to run the dangling concept ICV as a second step (v. 14)?

When are you expecting to release the new VocBench version? 

Thanks a lot,

Anne

[Armando]

Dear Anne,

When I mention to check the ICV I was referring to your second attempt with the delete operation. In that case, you are removing the only link (I was assuming you tried the delete on Vegetables in another test, without having first generated the new link to Fruit) that is present in the concept and thus the concept is still there but, simply, it is not visible anymore on the tree. You should not use a "delete broader" unless there are other broader concepts or the concept is topconcept somewhere otherwise it would end up being dangling. 

To reply to your quesrion: no, ICVs are not meant as a regular step of any operation; that would be annoying :-). They just check the dataset for broken constraints or other sort of irregularities and provide fixes for them.

With the replace with existing resource you shouldn't find any issue so I asked about the validation because it was the only thing coming to my mind.

The new version will be released within a month but, like I said, I don't think it contains any fix for this because I don't remember any bug either. 

Two  possible steps:

• can U let us know which version of VB you are running and which project setup U have? (I e. connection to local repo, or remote repo...and on which triple store? which version?). We need all this info to recreate the issue...
• if nothing pops up, if ur data is not reserved, you might send us both a zip of the project (and of its repo in case of an external triple store) and an RDF export of it

Kind regards,

Armando

Inviato da Outlook per Android

---

Da: vocben...@googlegroups.com <vocben...@googlegroups.com> per conto di Anne Massenkeil <anne.ma...@randstadusa.com>
Inviato: venerdì, gennaio 23, 2026 2:00:18 AM
A: vocbench-user <vocben...@googlegroups.com>
Oggetto: Re: [vocbench-user] Help with relocating concepts: "Replace with existing resource" vs. Moving Parents

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/vocbench-user/417d2e2d-a062-49c9-a9a9-e11e839cdd6dn%40googlegroups.com.

[Anne Massenkeil]

Dear Armando, sorry for the delay on this. 

I was attempting to reproduce the error but was able to complete the operation successfully this time; so I think the issue was in our end.

To confirm, the steps I used are as follows:
1. Use "Replace with existing resource" on the skos:broader property. This severs the connection with the old parent and establishes the link to the new one.
2. To complete the process: Manually delete the value under the former parent (listed under skos:narrower property) to remove the residual label.

Thanks,

Anne